What is Dogecoin?

Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency that began as a joke and became one of the best-known coins in the market. Launched in December 2013, it is named after "Doge", an internet meme built around a picture of a Shiba Inu dog. It was the first meme coin and remains the most recognized.

Who created Dogecoin?

Two software engineers, Billy Markus in the United States and Jackson Palmer in Australia, built Dogecoin to poke fun at the wave of new coins appearing at the time. Palmer registered the website and Markus wrote the code, adapting existing open-source software descended from Litecoin.

Neither expected it to last. Both stepped away from the project within a couple of years, and volunteers have maintained the software since.

How does Dogecoin work?

Dogecoin is a coin with its own blockchain, not a token on another network. It uses proof of work, the same broad method as bitcoin, in which miners compete with computing power to add blocks of transactions. The guide to crypto mining explains the process.

A new block arrives about every minute, compared with about ten minutes for bitcoin. Since 2014, Dogecoin has been mined together with Litecoin, a setup called merged mining that lets the same machines secure both networks.

The largest design difference from bitcoin is supply. Bitcoin is capped at 21 million coins. Dogecoin has no cap. Each block creates 10,000 new coins, which adds roughly five billion a year. The supply is therefore inflationary, meaning it keeps growing, although the yearly increase shrinks as a percentage of the total over time.

What is Dogecoin used for?

Its early community used it for tipping people online and for fundraising. In 2014, users collected coins to help send the Jamaican bobsled team to the Winter Olympics and to sponsor a NASCAR driver.

A number of merchants accept it for payment, and low transaction fees make small transfers practical. In practice, most activity is trading. Dogecoin's price rose sharply in early 2021, driven largely by social media and by posts from Tesla chief executive Elon Musk, then fell most of the way back.

It has also moved closer to mainstream finance. The first US exchange-traded fund holding dogecoin began trading in September 2025. In March 2026, a joint interpretation by the SEC and CFTC named Dogecoin among the crypto assets it treats as digital commodities, not securities.

What do critics say?

Skeptics make three main points. The unlimited supply means steady new issuance that holders must absorb. Development is slower and thinner than on larger networks. And demand rests on attention and sentiment, with no business or income behind the coin.

Supporters reply that the fixed issuance is predictable, that the network has run for more than a decade, and that a currency meant for spending does not need to be scarce. Like other cryptocurrencies, it remains highly volatile.