Like the Doge meme so beloved by the crypto community, the “funny Internet number” that April 20th looks like in American date format sprung from the Internet culture. Because of this, it was decided to make this day a celebration of DOGE. As a community, we owe a lot to this meme coin, so the ChangeHero team takes this chance to show some appreciation for Dogecoin today.
Things We Wouldn’t Have Without Dogecoin
If back in 2014, Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus hadn’t come together to make a coin inspired by a then-popular Doge Internet meme, the whole crypto market would have looked different. It may sound like a joke but the impact Dogecoin (DOGE) made cannot be overstated.
A Welcome Intro to Cryptocurrencies
By 2014, Bitcoin had been around for five years already with a host of other cryptocurrencies modifying its design. The core Bitcoin audience was around mostly for the blockchain tech or the lack of government control.
It seems that a lot of people who joined after 2014 needed a more fun cryptocurrency to hop on board. Something similar happened in 2021 when Wall Street Bets demonstrated once again that a significant portion of traders and crypto users would rather have fun making money as a community.
Dogecoin (DOGE) has pretty much always been a more approachable choice for newcomers, whether it comes to mining Dogecoin or trading it. The rollercoaster of the Dogecoins worth may have soured the experience of some but to others, it was a chance to earn on the price of DOGE’s fluctuations, priming them to the volatile nature of cryptocurrency prices.
Meme Coins
Dogecoin (DOGE) has also opened the floodgate to the idea that not every cryptocurrency has to be the fiat killer. And speaking of rollercoasters, it may have actually ended up as one of the least shaky of its kind due to its market cap.
There are meme coins clearly inspired by the Shiba Inu dog mascot, like the SHIB token. Others have taken a more loose inspiration and themed a project around dogs — take Volt Inu (VOLT) as an example. Each of these types of tokens and coins tries to introduce something new and improve the original but they all try to keep the “community first” idea.
Community Spirit
Dogecoin (DOGE) owes a lot to its community, too. After all, it was what kept it alive all these years even in times before the Dogecoin Foundation or any activity from developers. Originally, DOGE did not have a lot of utility but the community loved it so much they built a tipping system around it and used it for charitable causes.
No wonder all the meme coin communities try to recapture this magic. In part, they succeed and establish a great presence on social media platforms. However, fans and holders have yet to carry them through tough times, like when the comparison to stablecoins was a common inside joke.
Elon Musk in Crypto
As controversial as Tesla CEO Elon Musk is, his growing interest in crypto has brought plenty of mainstream attention and caused major changes in the market. The latter is definitely something anyone who owns Dogecoin can agree with from their own experience.
It all started in 2019 with a casual mention in a tweet. In the following years, the mentions and memes would appear more frequently. Then, Tesla would announce it would accept Dogecoin payments. Then, after the Twitter purchase, Doge would replace the bird logo for a few days in April.
Today, the connection between them is so strong, he does not even need to talk about it — the followers will find implicit endorsement in any post. Obviously, not everyone is happy with the sway he holds over the coin. It has come to the point when a Starship test flight crashed on April 20th and caused the Dogecoin price to drop, even though there was no explicit mention of DOGE.
Conclusion
Doge Day is already over but the influence Dogecoin, which started as a joke, made on the crypto world is something to remember and appreciate any day. It helped more people get into crypto comfortably, and in turn, they made Dogecoin into something more than a throwaway gag.
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