What is Dogecoin?

Dogecoin is the name of a coin that initially circulated in the Doge meme community and inspired the creation of Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency. It was introduced in 2013 by Billy Liu, who called the coin "an internet currency that had no real value." The coin rose to the top of the cryptocurrency space but fell from the market after being accused of being malicious by some investors. It made headlines again after the release of Dogecoin Flappy Bird coins for Halloween.

The Dogecoin cryptocurrency is an extension of the idea that people should continue sharing their true value. The currency comes from the Doge meme, the Internet-centric version of a Nigerian prince offering a small fortune to anyone who sends a picture of a puppy or their favorite dog.

"If you're sharing the value of what you have and your beliefs and being a good role model and spreading the message of love and caring and non-violence, and being a good steward of the earth," says Raul Roa of Dogecoin, "then you're doing something good in this world. You're putting the best of the world's intelligence into one coin, one currency, one meme."

In 2013, the Doge meme first rose to the top of social media and captured people's imaginations worldwide. It even spawned a website that translates all of the memes into different languages. Since then, the website has been revised to redirect the traffic to the official Dogecoin site.

The Dogecoin cryptocurrency makes it easy for anyone to participate in the cryptocurrency world. Just buy a coin for around $2.50 and place it in a wallet. After that, it is up to the people to spread the idea of sharing value. One of the major problems is that people often fear sharing their personal values. If the value of an item does not match their standards of value, then they choose not to participate in the system. That is where the "coin trick" comes in. People can put any value they want to a coin to fool people.

"I feel like it just kind of begs people to be cheeky and share personal values and promote the goodness of the community," says Michael Head, the Dogecoin community manager. "It's much easier for people to do that if you put a positive message out there that people can relate to."

Dogecoin is intended to be a currency of the internet community. It is not designed to be used for real-world purchases, but it is a way for people to buy something they want to promote.

"What if you actually gave away the currency that was coming out of Dogecoin's genesis and say you are only going to pay for some drinks, and you can only do that with the currency that is coming out of Dogecoin's genesis?" asks Head.

Dogecoin is in the process of becoming a "cryptocurrency for the people." At the moment, there are 1.5 billion Dogecoins in circulation. The goal is to have 100 billion Dogecoins in circulation by the end of 2018. Head says that 10 billion coins will have been given away in November. This means that 100 billion coins will go to the dogecoin holders in 2018.

"We don't want to make the currency exclusive," says Head. "We want to make it an inclusive currency. If we had too much exclusive currency, then people would lose faith in it and say, 'Oh, I can't participate.'"

This type of currency promotes the strength of a good example. After paying for a meal with a dogecoin coin, a server might be kind to a customer by saying something nice to the person. People would also see a server being kind to a person, and they might feel a little bit better about being rude to someone. Dogecoin is a coin to be shared, not an exclusive coin that only the crypto-community can share.