What is Dogecoin?
To mock the hype associated with some cryptos in the altcoin market, Dogecoin was built primarily as a joke in December 2013. Bearing the face of the Japanese breed Shiba Inu, Dogecoin is well-regarded as an open-sourced peer-to-peer digital currency.
At its core, Dogecoin is an ‘accidental’ event that has ended up winning a lot of hearts! No wonder it is often referred to as the ‘people’s cryptocurrency.
It harnesses blockchain technology and provides a highly secure decentralized system of storing information as a public ledger that is maintained by a network of computers called nodes.
Dogecoin’s ethos in its manifesto clearly exhibits its intrinsic values that include, but are not limited to providing utility, reliability, and ultimately creating an environment of trust.
The people behind the scene
The Dogecoin foundation (non-profit) is established for supporting Dogecoin’s crypto-journey, which includes its developmental and advocacy aspects.
The foundation has the responsibility to prevent any forms of abuse and fraud while formulating a roadmap for Dogecoin’s future.
Dogecoin’s advisors also include the likes of Vitalik Buterin and Jared Birchall, among other value-adding individuals. A promising board alongside reliable advisors could play a key role in the effective implementation of the coin’s roadmap and conflict management.
So after all, the project is definitely redefining its purpose and becoming more than what it set out to be in its formative years. The foundation’s catchphrase ‘Do Only Good Everyday’ further reaffirms intentions about supporting each other, being kind, teaching people about cryptocurrency, fundraising, having fun, making memes, and being absurd.
Now, let’s take into account some data to gauge the meme coin’s price prospects for the coming months.
Journey so far
After its December 2013 launch, it rose from $0.00026 to $0.0022 in just over a month, pulling in a 245% rally amidst its increased social attention. Then, after a rather choppy movement for a few years, DOGE established itself above the $0.0016-$0.0018 range to reserve a spot in the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap for the most part.
With Elon Musk being very vocal about DOGE’s prospects to be used as a currency, the meme token gained surreal prominence among the tech folk, as well as in pop culture. This set the stage for exponential growth on the charts. In the first half of 2021, DOGE surged by more than 9,600%.
This year, however, hasn’t been great for the coin as it found a bearish track.
Can it Do(d)ge its way to the moon?
As we saw, over the years DOGE has evolved to elicit a roadmap to expedite its usefulness in the crypto-space. Meanwhile, to serve this purpose ‘Dogechain’ has introduced DeFI, GameFI, and NFTs to the Dogecoin community to ultimately promote the usefulness of DOGE.
The ‘Dogechain’ is simply the “Layer 2 for Dogecoin.” By venturing into dApps, this community-driven project paves a path for the coin’s increased utility. However, It is not built on the meme coin’s network. Instead, it is based on a custom blockchain solution from Polygon, known as Polygon Edge. So in essence, Dogecoin’s developers or creators are not involved in the project.
So far, the results for this layer 2 scaling platform are already quite impressive. For instance, Dogechain reportedly processed 20 million transactions on 8 September. In fact, the coin has been noting an average increase of 2 Million transactions/day.
The coming times will unveil the true potential of this blockchain for DOGE hodlers.
Doge-ETH Bridge
According to BluePepper, the organization behind the Doge-ETH bridge’s development, this bridge will enable DOGE to move from the Dogecoin blockchain to the Ethereum Blockchain and back.
The intermingling of the meme-coin in Ethereum’s blockchain would make it useful in Smart Contracts, several DeFi protocols, NFT marketplaces, and wallets with added features and nuances. Once the bridge goes live, the investor’s perception of Doge’s overall utility would likely be favorable.
Nonetheless, to create this bridge, there are some practical hurdles yet to be toppled. It is expected to go live before the end of 2022. Investors can expect a price pump in Q4 if the bridge occurs as per the schedule.
Other factors
Dogecoin does not have a limited supply. It rather has a decreasing inflation rate year-on-year. This property, as per Elon Musk, makes the coin a better option to serve as a currency, alongside its other benefits like lower transaction costs and better processing.
Bitcoin Correlation
The Bitcoin market could play a major factor in influencing the coin’s upcoming moves, especially considering a 90% 30-day correlation with the king coin. Also, Ethereum’s Merge could spur a slight uptick in the altcoin market, one affecting the broader altcoin sentiment.
