What is The Problem Cardano Seeks to Solve

On its website, Cardano describes itself as the first blockchain platform to be built through peer-reviewed research, to be secure enough to protect the data of billions, scalable enough to accommodate global systems, and robust enough to support foundational change.

What is The Role of ADA in Cardano

ADA, the native cryptocurrency of Cardano, can be purchased or sold on platforms like 1Market. It can also be used to store value as part of one’s investment portfolio, to send or receive payments, or for staking and paying transaction fees on the Cardano network – a process that helps maintain the security and stability of the network in exchange for earning rewards.

What is Dogecoin?

Deconstructing Dogecoin

If you’re a dog person who happens to be involved in the cryptocurrency space, or even if you’re not a dog person but has been following the cryptocurrency market, chances are you might have come across an adorable coin with an iconic Shiba Inu on its logo.

Yes, we’re talking about none other than the Internet-famous, cult-favorite (and probably Elon Musk’s as well), and meme-worthy so DOGE, much wow Dogecoin.

So what is its story? How did a cute dog breed end up as an iconic record-breaking coin, which currently sits among the top 10 cryptocurrencies of the world?

Started as a Joke, Now It’s Here

Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency that was created as a joke back in 2013 by two software developers who worked at Adobe and IBM, Billy Marcus and Jackson Palmer.

It was launched as a satirical homage to Bitcoin and the hype surrounding cryptocurrencies at that time, and was designed with no actual purpose in mind other than to generate a few laughs.

Palmer was initially sceptical of cryptocurrencies and posted tongue-in-cheek tweets about his new cryptocurrency venture. However, he received positive feedback about it on social media, which eventually led to him buying the domain dogecoin.com.

Meanwhile, Marcus had trouble promoting his efforts at creating a digital currency. When he heard the buzz surrounding Dogecoin, he contacted Palmer for permission to build the software behind it based on Luckycoin, which itself is derived from Litecoin.

On December 6, 2013, Marcus and Palmer officially launched the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, with Palmer explaining that he branded the coin’s logo using a popular meme that deliberately misspelled the word “dog” to “doge” to describe a Shiba Inu dog.

The Rise of Dogecoin

While there’s no denying that it started as a joke, Dogecoin has several impressive feats under its belt even during its early days.

Back in 2014, the Dogecoin community came through and raised $25,000 in Dogecoin to send the Jamaican bobsleigh team to the Winter Olympics in Sochi. This came after Winston Watt, the American-Jamaican pilot of the two-man sled team, revealed that they couldn’t afford to fly his team even after putting in his own money.

It was followed by another inspiring feat a few months later when the Dogecoin community in Reddit raised $55,000 to sponsor Nascar driver Josh Wise so he could compete in the #98 Moonrocket at the Talladega Superspeedway. At that time, Wise was an up-and-coming driver and was an underdog in need of financial support.

Dogecoin has maintained a relatively low profile over the years since then, but was recently thrust into the limelight once again.

Earlier this year, Dogecoin gained cult status on Reddit’s WallStreetBets subreddit – the instigator behind the GameStop situation back in January – after supporters promised to hype its value “to the moon”, which is cryptocurrency lingo for a coin believed to increase significantly in price.

Shortly after, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and one of the richest men in history, started tweeting about Dogecoin, which propelled its value from less than $0.1 during the start of this year to up to $0.73 by May.

While it isn’t clear what caught Musk’s attention about Dogecoin in the first place, his interest and oftentimes cryptic tweets about the cryptocurrency undoubtedly led to the coin’s popularity to skyrocket – and with even other brands jumping in on the Dogecoin bandwagon.

Dogecoin – Madness or Genius?

Like with any other cryptocurrency, Dogecoin has seen dramatic swings in its value, most notably as a result of Musk and other celebrities tweeting and talking about it, which makes it a very volatile asset should you decide to invest in it.

Since its all-time high of $0.73 in June, Dogecoin’s value has since fallen to $0.27 as of writing. However, its popularity has propelled it to the top of the world’s list of biggest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, clocking in at roughly $35 billion to date.

As cryptocurrency adoption all throughout the world continues to grow, it remains to be seen how an asset that once started as a joke like Dogecoin will fare in the future.

One of the creators himself, Marcus, sold all of his Dogecoin in 2015, and made just enough to buy a used Honda Civic.

The Meme That Launched a Thousand Doge

As for the meme that launched a thousand Doge, it all started on February 13, 2010 when Japanese kindergarten teacher Atsuko Sato posted several photos of her female Shiba Inu rescue named Kabosu on her personal blog.

Among those that Sato uploaded is the now-iconic sideway glare of Kabosu while looking at the camera. That picture of Kabosu was eventually shared in Reddit and Tumblr, where it gained popularity that spawned memes, blogs, videos, channels, and even its own Internet speak (such wow, much amaze anyone?).

Today, you can follow Kabuso’s daily adventure on her official Instagram page.

And last but not the least, how exactly do you pronounce Dogecoin? According to Markus, the correct pronunciation is “dohj coin”, although some still prefer to pronounce the first syllable like “dog” or “doggy.”