In brief

  • The crypto market is booming.
  • That includes the biggest meme coin, Doge, which is up 121% in 24 hours.
  • The coin attracted a lot of attention in 2020.

The cryptocurrency market has boomed into 2021 stronger than ever: the price of Bitcoin is setting record after record, interest in Ethereum is through the roof and the DeFi industry continues to grow. 

And altcoins also show no sign of slowing down—namely the OG “meme coin,” Dogecoin (DOGE). The price of DOGE was $0.011 at the time of writing, a 121% increase in 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data. 

Dogecoin
DOGE
-8.36%$0.1545
24H7D1M1YMAX
Created with Highcharts 10.3.3Mar 20Mar 22Mar 24Mar 26Mar 28Mar 30Apr 1Apr 3Apr 5Apr 7Apr 9Apr 11Apr 13Apr 15Apr 17$0.12$0.14$0.16$0.18$0.2$0.22
Price data by
DOGE price

The coin, which was created as a joke but now has a market cap of $1.3 billion, surged in value in 2020 with other altcoins. This time last year, before crypto-mania gripped the world, the coin was worth just $0.00204887. 

Its price is now up 441%. 

The surprising success of Dogecoin

Despite having begun as a joke, cryptocurrency Dogecoin banged the golden gong late last week, scoring a bona fide integration with the popular Coinbase Wallet.   The success of this doge-and-pony show (without a pony) has been as surprising to the Dogecoin team as it's been to crypto pundits. In October, Doge's estranged co-founder, Jackson Palmer, told Decrypt that rumors of a Coinbase listing were just that, and noted that the legal documentation Coinbase required was almost impossible to ass...

NewsCoins
4 min read
Ben Munster

Why the coin is up so much is anyone’s guess. But the coin has been in the limelight a lot in the past year: Elon Musk said it was his favorite cryptocurrency (sending the price up) and a viral TikTok video also encouraged people to invest. 

And the coin does have some uses—albeit criminal ones. Last year, hackers started using the cryptocurrency to control Monero-mining malware. 

DOGE was created by developers Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus in 2013 to poke fun at Bitcoin. 

But the currency has since become popular—much to its creators’ surprise—and is now available on major exchanges. It comfortably sits in the top 30 cryptocurrencies in terms of market cap. 

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.

Daily Debrief Newsletter

Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.