What is Dogecoin?
History of Dogecoin
Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency that was born as a joke based on a meme. The meme is the Doge, which became popular in 2013 and consists of a photo of a Shiba Inu dog, to which funny phrases are attached.
This cryptocurrency was created in December 2013 as a parody of the "crypto fever" by a person named Billy Markus, a programmer and former IBM engineer. At that time, Bitcoin was gaining a very bad reputation for being involved in black market transactions within the Dark Web, because of this Markus decided to create an alternative that had nothing to do with such shady issues. The name of the cryptocurrency comes from the meme, and the image of the dog is used in the images with which it is illustrated.
Based on a cryptographic protocol not administered by any central authority (that is, it is a decentralized currency) but by consensus among peers, the development of Dogecoin is part of a decentralized network in which transactions can be carried out between individuals and / or companies. in a not very regulated way. Due to this, there is no difference between this cryptocurrency and many others that can be found on the network.
According to the BBC, in 2014 its investors donated Dogecoins worth $ 55,000 to retired NASCAR driver Josh Wise. And in that same year, they raised an amount of 25,000 to support a Jamaican Olympic team, and the community also financed some water projects in Kenya.
Dogecoin Economy
There are many exchange houses in the network that exchange DOGE / BTC, DOGE / LTC, DOGE / USD. The price is extremely volatile due to the fact that the lifetime of the coin (compared to other cryptocurrencies) is considerably short.
How Dogecoin Works
Dogecoin is based on Litecoin, and its operation is similar to that of other cryptocurrencies. You will need a program on your computer to solve the complex algorithms with which said cryptocurrency is mined.
Like Litecoin, Dogecoin also uses a cryptographic program called Scrypt, which allows it to be mined in a faster way compared to other cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, but without using the same hardware for it.
This speed is also reflected in transactions, which means that payments made with Dogecoin will be faster than those made, for example, with Bitcoin. Also, according to its algorithm, the theoretical maximum of Dogecoins that can be mined is 100 million units, compared to the 21 million of Bitcoin that there will be a maximum.
- Addresses
A Dogecoin address is a form of unique identification for each user that is used to make exchanges (either send or receive) cryptocurrencies quickly and easily.
In the world of cryptocurrencies, the address works in the same way as in the traditional financial system, whether it is to send or receive money transfers. Which is to say, it works like a kind of bank account.
- Transactions
Dogecoin works using asymmetric cryptography, it means that a user generates a pair of cryptographic keys: one public and one private. Only the private key can decode information encrypted with the public key; therefore, the owner of the keys can distribute the public key openly without fear of someone gaining access to the encrypted information. All Dogecoin addresses are public keys; They are a string consisting of 34 numbers and letters beginning with the letter D. The public key is the address of the Dogecoin digital wallet to which other users can send and receive Dogecoins.
- How is it Obtained?
It is usually recommended to mine Dogecoin with GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), that is, through powerful graphics cards with good performance, although there is also the possibility of mining with the CPU (Central Processing Unit), but it would only be profitable if you have with a latest generation processor (such as Intel i7-i9).
- Privacy
Like Bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies, it is based on the blockchain system, which allows it to be a fully decentralized and anonymous cryptocurrency. There is no body that regulates the currency, only the nodes of the network are those that validate the different exchanges that the system performs.
Each of the users has an electronic wallet or wallet that allows them to store the different currencies they own completely anonymously, so that no one on the network can know the identity of another user. Keep in mind that if we lose our wallet or password, we will lose all the money we have.