Despite starting as a funny meme intended to make the crypto audience laugh, Dogecoin managed to become one of the most revolutionary and widely spread cryptocurrencies around. It harbingered the emergence of a new crypto niche—meme coins—and now rejoices over massive demand from both newcomers to crypto and seasoned investors, for reasons that extend beyond the appealing Dogecoin price. What are those motifs?
Let’s discover some of the biggest realizations of Dogecoin – the leading dog meme coin around.
Dogecoin’s renowned 68,000% run
Few coins have managed to achieve what Dogecoin did during the bull run of 2021. Dogecoin registered a massive 68,000% increase in value in early May, when the demand for the asset skyrocketed due to an interplay of factors, including social media hype, particularly from Elon Musk, and growing interest in the crypto market. Shiba Inu is an example of a company whose performance overtakes Dogecoin’s, having risen by 40,000,000% from January to October 2021 and hitting an unexpected $0.00008.
At that time, Dogecoin reached an all-time high of about $0.73 per coin – a huge jump from the fraction of a penny that it was trading for earlier that year. Assessing the rise from when Dogecoin was selling for a song, its performance is clearly staggering. Crypto analyst Glory has recently shared on X platform that if a similar scenario were to recur, Dogecoin could manage to sell for almost $36 and see a market cap that exceeds $5TN. Such a scenario would list the leading meme coin in double digits and push the entire meme coin category upward.
Adoption as a payment method
Dogecoin started as a lighthearted joke that poked fun at Bitcoin and lacked any strong fundamentals. Yet, it managed to enter the ranks of some of the most used cryptos for real-world payments. It’s not as widely accepted as Bitcoin and Ethereum, but it still plays an unmatched role in the cryptocurrency landscape. From luxury purchases to international travel to VPN subscriptions, an increasing number of firms are starting to accept Dogecoin for their services.
Companies accepting Dogecoin
Here are some big businesses where Dogecoin owners can spend their tokens:
Travala. Blockchain-built travel booking company Travala offers over 3MN accommodations, activities, and flights globally and accepts more than 100 cryptos as payment, including Dogecoin. The platform collaborates with multiple crypto payment services to guarantee efficient and safe conversions. It also secures price stability by converting chosen currencies at the exact exchange rate at that moment.
AirBaltic. AirBaltic is the first airline worldwide to accept crypto—namely, Bitcoin—for ticket acquisitions. In March 2021, it integrated Dogecoin in an effort to broaden its crypto payment alternatives and cater to the ever-rising audience willing to pay with meme coins.
Newegg. Similarly to AirBaltic, North American e-retailer Newegg integrated Bitcoin into its payment system, being a leader among massive online retailers taking crypto. In 2021, around the time of #DogeDay celebrations, the mammoth started taking Dogecoin, too. Notably, some services can’t be paid in crypto, such as pre-orders or gift cards.
CheapAir. US-based online travel agency CheapAir began accepting Dogecoin for railway and flight bookings in September 2014, emerging as one of the first travel businesses to do so.
Shopify. Shopify is another prominent e-commerce platform that allows merchants to accept Dogecoin payments via integrations with third-party crypto payment providers.
Dogecoin has a few benefits as a payment system.
As Dogecoin keeps entering more balance sheets, both buyers and companies are learning its unique benefits as a payment option. First, Dogecoin transactions usually have cheaper fees compared to banking services, credit cards, and other traditional payment options. This decrease in transaction prices can benefit businesses, particularly those processing large volumes of transactions or selling internationally. Dogecoin ranks among the top ten most affordable cryptocurrencies to transfer.
Secondly, Dogecoin helps companies receive payments more rapidly, enhancing cash flow and slashing the waiting times that traditional payments have. The leading crypto, Bitcoin, itself processes transactions more slowly compared to Dogecoin.
Lastly, Dogecoin payments offer enterprises access to a growing demographic of younger, digital-native consumers whose purchasing power is steadily increasing.
Dogecoin and philanthropy
Few may associate crypto with donations; yet, Dogecoin is a big player in this area. Save the Children, a humanitarian organization that takes donations in Dogecoin to advance its mission of enhancing children’s lives around the world, is one of the most potent examples of this. The organization pioneered the acceptance of digital currency contributions among international NGOs, starting in 2013. Donations are handled through platforms like The Giving Block, permitting benefactors to support humanitarian causes using Dogecoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Notably, the organization has gained over $8.6MN through crypto contributions, which have been used to fund education initiatives, respond to natural disasters, and deliver aid in conflict regions.
The Dogecoin community is involved in charitable efforts
The Dogecoin community has contributed to a few philanthropic projects, such as:
- A fan group raised over $25K in Dogecoin to send the Jamaican bobsleigh crew to the 2014 Winter Olympics
- Supporters donated $30K to build clean water wells in Kenya
- Lastly, the Dogecoin community sponsored NASCAR driver Josh Wise with around $55K worth of Dogecoin in 2014.
Lastly, Dogecoin boasts a massive market cap.
In the 2021 bull run, Dogecoin hit its all-time peak and smashed the $80BN market cap record, scoring a new ATH for the leading meme coin. This milestone pushed it to fifth place among the largest cryptocurrencies in the world, and it established a single token’s price at $0.7376. The endorsements from influential business tycoons, Elon Musk and Mark Cuban, on X (ex-Twitter), significantly boosted the meme coin’s success.
Musk primarily highlighted Dogecoin’s reliability in transactions, and both moguls shared tweets in its favor. However, the situation has changed, and due to Dogecoin’s inflationary characteristics, it’s unlikely to retain the same market cap or price levels again anytime soon. In 2021, Musk’s endorsements led to notable spikes in volatility, amplifying the leverage effect and increasing risks for speculative traders.
Dogecoin has been securing the 8th spot in the top largest cryptos by market cap, and that’s massive for a coin that started as a meme.
