Dogecoin Price (DOGE/USD) | Today’s Price

About Dogecoin

Dogecoin was created as a joke, but that hasn’t stopped it from rising to the top of the crypto charts.

It’s the infamous meme coin that took the internet by storm in 2021, though it’s been around for nearly a decade. Dogecoin (DOGE) was created in 2013 by two programmers, Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, who set out to expose the silliness of the crypto craze by creating their own virtual money based on a meme about a talking Shiba Inu puppy. 

Fast forward to 2022, the digital currency that was created as a joke is consistently among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap. Its price skyrocketed by more than 1,600% last year, spurred in part by the meme stock frenzy and celebrity promotion from the likes of Tesla’s Elon Musk, rapper Snoop Dogg, and entrepreneur Mark Cuban.

“Dogecoin is endemic of the last two years of speculative mania in different asset classes, not just cryptocurrencies,” says Omar Qureshi, managing partner at High Tower Wealth Advisors. “Dogecoin was an extension of the Reddit and GameStop interest in sticking it to the system, and it just hasn’t had staying power.”

How Does Dogecoin Work?

Like other cryptocurrencies, dogecoin runs on its own blockchain. It can used for sending payments to others or making purchases, but experts advise against it as it’s not a very effective store of value nor does it have any real use case.

Dogecoin was designed by copying code on Luckycoin, which is itself derived from Litecoin, another peer-to-peer cryptocurrency. Similar to bitcoin, dogecoin uses a proof of work consensus mechanism to validate every blockchain transaction, which requires a lot of computing power. 

When dogecoin was created, it provided uncertain rewards for mining, which meant a miner could receive a reward of anywhere between zero and thousands of dogecoins, so the founders thought users would become frustrated and give up. Even though it was created as a joke, the community grew. By 2014, the founders abandoned the irregular mining reward and now anyone who mines a block of Dogecoin receives 10,000 dogecoins, capping its supply to $5 billion dogecoins per year.

“There’s a community around dogecoin and they really enjoy it and find novel ways to incorporate it into their online lives,” says Jason Vitug, a former banking executive and founder of the financial education website Phroogal. “It’s really about fun, and less about creating a serious cryptocurrency for many of the community members.”

What Gives Dogecoin Its Value?

Because dogecoin is a meme coin, its value is tied to hype and popularity. 

“For any memecoin, it’s all about the hype,” Vitug says. “Elon Musk talked it up for a few weeks and that sent the price skyrocketing. Other influential people like Mark Cuban said they’d accept it at their businesses, and the price rose.”

Take every time Musk tweets about dogecoin, for example. When Musk tweeted about dogecoin being “the people’s crypto” in October 2021 and claimed that his crypto portfolio only included bitcoin, ether and dogecoin, the meme coin immediately shot up in price. But experts say dogecoin’s hype precedes its value and don’t anticipate it will stick around for the long term. 

“The hype works for a while, until it doesn’t anymore,” Qureshi says. “A good cryptocurrency with long-term staying power needs to solve a problem. Dogecoin doesn’t do that. So, what is the value? Nothing.”

How to Buy Dogecoin

Buying dogecoin is fairly easy as it is readily available across several major cryptocurrency exchanges, but experts advise against investing in it. Coinbase allows you to buy dogecoin, and you can even purchase the meme coin from other popular online marketplaces like Robinhood. To buy dogecoin or any crypto from a major exchange or marketplace, you’ll need to transfer fiat currency from your bank to your crypto account. 

When choosing a platform to buy cryptocurrency, it’s important to consider security and consider potential fees. For example, Robinhood doesn’t charge transaction fees for its crypto trades. Some cryptocurrency exchanges, like Coinbase, have theft and crime insurance to protect your assets against security breaches and hacks. However, if the exchange goes bankrupt, you could potentially lose your money.

If you decide to investing in dogecoin or any other cryptocurrency, carefully consider your risk tolerance and long-term financial goals. Only invest money you’d be comfortable losing after you’ve built an emergency fund, paid off high-interest debt, and regularly contribute to a traditional retirement plan.

Dogecoin Price History

Dogecoin may be in the top 10 cryptocurrencies for market cap, but for most of its history, its price has been below 10 cents. In fact, dogecoin got its first bump from less than one cent to seven cents in early 2021.

From April to June 2021, Dogecoin saw a huge increase in price, mostly due to celebrity hype, especially from Musk, as well as general interest after COVID-related stimulus flooded the economy. Dogecoin reached an all-time high of 68 cents in May 2021.

“The Federal Reserve and other central banks pumped a ton of money into the economy and everything went up,” Qureshi says. “You saw this in all sorts of speculative assets, including paintings, Pokemon cards, and non-fungible tokens.”

However, the rally was short-lived. By the end of June and through the rest of the summer, dogecoin fell. A tipping point for dogecoin was when Musk mentioned the meme coin on “Saturday Night Live,” and it plunged nearly 25% within 24 hours. 

In addition to that, cryptocurrencies have been struggling so far in 2022 as investors are largely fleeing risky assets due to surging inflation, geopolitical tensions in Ukraine, a shaky stock market, and talks of an impending recession. Dogecoin has fallen more than 75% in value since last May. As of mid-2022, dogecoin was trading between 5 cents and 9 cents.

Dogecoin vs. Shiba Inu 

Like dogecoin, shiba inu (SHIB) is a meme coin that was created as a joke based on a dog. Think of shiba inu as a competitor meme coin to dogecoin. It was specifically created as a “dogecoin killer” in 2020 by an anonymous person using the name Rayoshi. While dogecoin was largely influenced by bitcoin, shiba inu was built on the ethereum blockchain. 

But neither of these meme coins should be considered serious investments as “both rely on the news around them,” according to Vitug. “No one’s really talking about either coin now, so the price is low and unlikely to see a spike, unless they end up getting press again.”

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