We all know that humor is a big part of what defines a culture. Some people grew up watching ‘Seinfeld’ and were incredibly influenced by stand-up and sitcoms. The humor that identifies these younger generations is memes.
And everyone loves a good meme, right? And memes, as a form of humor, also permeate other creative and non-creative areas. We have meme music turning into something serious (Doja Cat or Lil Nas X are excellent examples). And if we have meme music, why wouldn’t we have meme cryptocurrencies?
Yes, Dogecoin, I’m talking about you.
DOGECOIN MADE SIMPLE
Whether you are a part of the crypto community or not, you have heard of Dogecoin. It has been in everyone’s mouths for quite some time now.
How has Dogecoin become so famous? Well, it was the result of a joke that started making some serious noise and reaching the right ears. For example, we have Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and senior meme lord, fervently supporting it. We even have Mark Cuban accepting Dogecoin for Dallas Mavericks (NBA basketball) merch and saying he won’t sell any.
But how did Dogecoin start? Let’s go back to 2013, the year that bitcoin found its reputation a bit tarnished because of Silk Road. Billy Markus, an IBM programmer, takes note of this and decides to create an alternative – more of a joke than an alternative.
Billy thought of something fun and with a lighter note and there he takes inspiration from a meme. He took Doge, a meme of a Shiba Inu dog characterized by incorrectly spelled sentences. And lo and behold, Dogecoin ($DOGE) was born.
THE DOGECOIN SILVER LINING
Yes, Dogecoin was born as a joke. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Yet, many still wonder how a joke gets to tens of billions of dollars in market cap. How does a joke go from being worth half a cent in January to 40 cents in just four months?
Yet, the answer is still the same: it is a joke. It is something recognizable. Yes, Dogecoin has fundamentally zero intrinsic value. But it sure does have a following. A following big enough to put DOGE in front of the right people. And this is how the snowball started.
It is impossible to say that Dogecoin was the gasoline of the bull run. It was not, there were many other factors. But, we must recognize one thing: Dogecoin lowered the entry-level for cryptocurrencies. Many people entered the market without knowing what a blockchain was or how it worked thanks to DOGE.
And that’s another major selling point for Dogecoin. It is bringing a lot of new retail investors to space — the average Joe invested first in DOGE. That has sparked some serious interest from those new investors. DOGE has brought thousands of new people to the crypto community.
FINAL THOUGHTS
People can debate all they want about whether DOGE has no real value or is overpriced. It doesn’t matter. Or at least it doesn’t matter to Dogecoin. And we shouldn’t care either.
The truth is that Dogecoin is on a mission. Many will say ironically that it has a mission to the moon. But, in reality, DOGE’s value is not there. Its real value is in how easy it made cryptocurrencies for many newcomers.
And although many do not want to accept it, Dogecoin has earned its place — even if it was born as a joke.
