Dogecoin, the cryptocurrency that came on board in 2013 has come a long way. It started as a fun cryptocurrency that wanted to remove the seriousness and somewhat boring aspects of Bitcoin thereby making digital currencies a mainstream phenomenon which nearly everyone could get involved in.
The meme coin has to a large extent accomplished that, but the developers are looking towards making it more than a mere meme coin knowing that the investors are depending on them to maintain the stability of their asset.
History of Dogecoin
Dogecoin was invented by Jackson Palmer and Billy Marcus with the aim of having some exciting features that removes the seriousness that is usually associated with the cryptosphere.
In 2014, it made news by leveraging its lightheartedness to generate $25,000 for the Jamaican Bobsleigh team enabling them to participate in the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Japan.
With more than 1000 competing coins in the market, Dogecoin has continued to be among the top coin even though the developers are thinking of making it into a coin that is known not just for its meme but as a strong means of transfer of values.
Meme, Jokes and Fun
The impression folks have about dogecoin could be exemplified with the April Fool joke in which Tesla’s Elon Must was ‘elected’ as the Dogecoin CEO. Following through with the joke, Musk even changed his Twitter profile to “CEO of Dogecoin” for one day. The following day after the Twitter election, he changed it to “Retired CEO of Dogecoin”.
Musk who polled 54 percent of the votes following through with the joke even though it is obvious to him and the crypto Twitter community that Dogecoin network is decentralized and not a company that could have a CEO is an illustration of the general attitude towards the coin which in the past has served mainly the purpose of tipping.
The Challenge
Ross Nicoll, Dogecoin core developer speaking on the future of the coin said,
“It’s a challenge, certainly, and I’m conscious that when presenting ourselves we need to both be approachable and simultaneously ensure that we address potentially very complex topics with the depth they require,”
Obviously, it would take lots of work to move beyond being a coin known for jokes and tipping to becoming a major investment and means of transfer of value. Michi Lumin, another developer maintained that even though there are a lot of users in the community who have not yet taken the coin seriously, the developers see things from a different perspective.
The developers are now working on communicating their vision for the project to users and potential investors in the community. The view to strike a balance between Dogecoin meant to entertain and the seriousness needed as an investment instrument comes to fore.
This is so, even though the developers said they view the coin not as a speculative instrument but as a currency. This is why they rarely talk about price which is subject to market conditions.
“Personally I use different accounts to split how we interact; Github tends to be very serious business, as is the @dogecoin_devs Twitter account, while @dogecoin tends to be the friendlier, lighter content,”
Nicoll added.
Even with their businesslike approach towards Dogecoin, the developers have nothing against the jokes and fun associated with it. They see those as part of the identity that has made the coin acceptable to so many in the community.
According to Nicoll:
“Whether that’s a good thing depends on whom you ask; I got into Dogecoin because I wanted to help with a mass-market appeal cryptocurrency, rather than to become rich, and from that perspective we succeeded very well,”
