Dogecoin, A Currency of Community

I have been getting asked about Dogecoin a lot recently due to its mainstream attention regarding NASCAR driver Josh Wise, mentioned in The Washington Post, NPR and The Wall Street Journal to name a few. Dogecoin is similar to Bitcoin in the sense that they are both forms of cryptocurrency, and that's where the comparisons end. In August 2013, doge memes were spammed onto Reddit's r/MURICA by 4chan's /b/. A search of the term doge on Google Trends shows an explosion of popularity occurring in October 2013, and more so in the following month. Not long after in December, Dogecoin was created by programmer Billy Markus who hoped to create a fun cryptocurrency that could reach a broader demographic than Bitcoin. At the same time, Jackson Palmer, a member of Adobe Systems' marketing department was encouraged on Twitter to make the idea a reality.

I recently turned to the mods at /r/dogecoin to ask them if they would be willing to answer a few questions that I had regarding the currency, they told me that there was nothing they could tell me that the community(shibes, a reference to the Shiba Inu breed used for Doge and Dogecoin logo) couldn't better explain and encouraged me to make a post. In the comments I was met with people that were not only pleasant but also very knowledgeable and willing to answer any and all questions that I had. Here is a link to that thread , not once was I met with anything other than what very well may be the nicest community that I have encountered on the internet and that is what sets Doge apart. The following is taken from Dogecoin's wiki:

• On January 19, 2014, a fundraiser was established by the Dogecoin community to raise $50,000 for the Jamaican Bobsled Team, which had qualified for, but could not afford to go to, the Sochi Winter Olympics. By the second day, $30,000 worth of Dogecoin was donated, and the Dogecoin community also raised funds for a second Sochi athlete Shiva Keshavan.
• Inspired by the Winter Olympics fundraiser and smaller charity fundraising successes, the Dogecoin Foundation, led by Eric Nakagawa, began collecting donations to build a well in the Tana river bassin in Kenya in cooperation with charity: water. They set out to raise a total of 40,000,000 Dogecoin (~$30,000 at the time) before World Water Day on March 22nd. The campaign succeeded, collecting donations from more than 4,000 donors, including one anonymous benefactor who donated 14,000,000 Dogecoin in what news media dubbed "the most valuable tweet in history".
• On March 25, 2014, the Dogecoin community successfully raised 67.8 million Dogecoins (~$55,000 at the time) in an effort to sponsor NASCAR driver Josh Wise. Wise ran with a Dogecoin/Reddit-sponsored paint scheme at the Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. On May 4, 2014, Wise and his car were featured for nearly a minute, during which the race commentators discussed Dogecoin and the crowdfunding effort, while finishing 20th and narrowly avoiding multiple wrecks. On May 16, 2014, Josh Wise won a spot at the Sprint All-Star Race through an online fan vote beating household name Danica Patrick, largely due to the efforts of the Dogecoin Reddit community. He finished the race in 15th. 

Bitcoin has been around for going on five years now and most people involved in BTC are doing so for the gains (a loose conversion would be each bitcoin worth ~$500), Dogecoin on the other hand isn't worth more than $0.50 per 1000DOGE. So, why do people spend their time so invested in a cryptocurrency worth less than you can find in your couch? Because unlike Bitcoin, Shibes aren't in this for the money, not now at least. If you were to ask someone how to get BTC they would most likely direct you to a FAQ of sorts, ask someone how to acquire DOGE and you very well may get a dogetip, I went from no DOGE to over 875.00DOGE in my single post to their subreddit. Much like with any cryptocurrency Dogecoin is unpredictable, however shibes have no problem coming together for a common goal and that is what will prevent Dogecoin from going belly up.

A Shiba Inu, belly up