In the deep night of December 2013, IBM programmer Billy Markus and Adobe marketing director Jackson Palmer, under the influence of alcohol, spent less than three hours coding a string of code. They used the popular internet Shiba Inu meme "Doge" as the icon and gave this coin a humorous name "Dogecoin."
In the dead of December 2013, IBM programmer Billy Markus and Adobe marketing director Jackson Palmer, fueled by alcohol, coded for less than three hours to launch a coin. They used the popular Shiba Inu meme “Doge” as the icon and endowed this coin with a humorous name: “Dogecoin.” At the time, no one would have imagined that this joke, intended to poke fun at the overbearing nature of the Bitcoin community, would become a financial monster valued at tens of billions of dollars a decade later, nor could anyone have anticipated that it would stage the most ludicrous comeback in crypto history amidst the manipulations of Musk’s Twitter.
The Birth of Dogecoin: A Tale of Mockery and Legend
The genesis of Dogecoin is infused with dark humor from beginning to end. The two founders openly derided the elitism of the Bitcoin community—while Bitcoin believers would shout “digital gold” and “disrupting fiat currency,” they deliberately designed Dogecoin to be anti-mainstream: Bitcoin boasts a total supply of 21 million coins, highlighting scarcity, whereas Dogecoin issued 100 billion coins in its first year and continues to increase by 5% annually; Bitcoin miners require specialized mining machines, but Dogecoin adopted the Litecoin algorithm, enabling ordinary computers to mine; and while Bitcoin forums delve into profound cryptography, the Dogecoin community dissects financial attributes with meme images.
This spirit of mockery, to everyone’s surprise, struck a chord with the collective emotions of the internet. In 2014, the Dogecoin community launched the “Doge4Water” crowdfunding campaign, aiming to dig a well in Kenya with a goal of $50,000—an amount that was quickly reached, and ultimately, they raised $30,000 to donate. The New York Times reported, “A group of Internet users communicating with dog head memes proved to be more efficient than a United Nations agency in delivering aid to a drought-stricken area in southeast Kenya.” In the same year, American NASCAR driver Josh Wise's car was covered in Dogecoin logos, and millions of netizens supported the race by tipping DOGE, transforming this third-rate team into a traffic star. However, until this point, Dogecoin was merely "fun" and had almost no wealth effect. The real turning point occurred in 2021. When Musk tweeted an image of "Doge Barking at the Moon," Dogecoin surged 900% in a single day. The world's richest man then became Dogecoin's chief promoter: first claiming "SpaceX will send Dogecoin to the moon next year," then announcing "Tesla merchandise will support DOGE payments," and even accidentally stating on Saturday Night Live that "Dogecoin is a hustle," which led to a price halving before he tweeted to save it. In this meticulously designed roller coaster ride, Dogecoin's market value at one point surpassed $88 billion, outpacing traditional giants like Ford and GM, becoming the most dangerous financial toy in the crypto world. Afterward, people realized that the wealth effect had nothing to do with actual application. For instance, although SpaceX has already completed its lunar landing program, no one has seen any signs of Dogecoin on the moon. Similarly, Tesla never used Dogecoin for any merchandise payments, and even the Saturday Night Live skit was a hastily arranged one. It seems that the only constant is Musk's endless tweets about Dogecoin.
Four Categories of Cryptocurrency: Dogecoin's Status in the Landscape
To comprehend the essence of Dogecoin, one must first clarify the landscape of cryptocurrencies. This market may appear chaotic, but it is systematically divided into four categories, each adhering to distinct survival logics. The first category is Bitcoin itself, which stands as the eternal value guarantee of the crypto world. Bitcoin establishes a belief system of "digital gold" with its fixed total supply of 21 million coins and decentralized architecture. Its believers see it as the ultimate weapon against the rampant issuance of fiat currency. As of 2025, with the development of the market, people increasingly believe that there is an essential difference between Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The second category is altcoins, which form the "stock market" of the crypto world. "Altcoin" is not a derogatory term but refers to other cryptocurrencies designed after Bitcoin. Because they "imitate," they are called altcoins. These coins have similar characteristics to stocks in traditional financial markets, but there are no barriers to listing; anyone can issue a coin, and it depends on whether anyone buys it to decide whether it will be listed. In essence, every major altcoin can be considered to have a web3 company behind it; if you believe in this company, you can buy its coin. Major altcoins include ETH, SOL, ADA, BNB, and TRX. The characteristics of altcoins mainly include:
• Newcomers: Among the top 50 coins, there are constantly newcomers. Recently, there has been a surge in AI Agent and Trump coins, and tomorrow there
