Started as a joke in 2013, meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin DOGE/USD is now one of the most valuable cryptos and enjoying a strong 2024 thanks to the sector seeing valuations rise after the 2024 presidential election.
As Dogecoin celebrates its 11th anniversary on Dec. 6, here’s a look back at the coin’s creation and how much investors could have made following one of the key events in meme crypto history.
What Happened: Dogecoin was created in 2013 by Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus. The coin was meant to be satirical, mocking Bitcoin BTC/USD, but over time, it has gained support from a loyal community.
Palmer bought dogecoin.com and connected with Markus, who had previous experience with altcoins, including making a coin based on the Bells currency in the Animal Crossing video game. The duo created the coin in just a couple hours, with Markus previously saying much of the time on development was spent changing the font of the coin to Comic Sans.
The cryptocurrency was based on the iconic Doge meme that stars Kabosu, a Shiba Inu dog.
A profile for Dogecoin was created on Bitcointalk.org on Dec. 6, 2013. A subreddit for Dogecoin (r/Dogecoin) was created on Dec. 8, 2013. The coin opened for trading on Dec. 15, 2013.
“Today is dogecoin’s 11th birthday. It is extremely surreal that some silly thing I made in a few hours has had the impact on the world that it has. It’s a nice reminder that everyone has the potential to make a huge impact with their actions, whether big or small,” Markus tweeted on Friday, Dec. 6, 2024.
One of the coin’s first uses was as a tipping bot on Reddit.
The price of Dogecoin went from around $0.0002 to $0.002 in two weeks, marking a significant return for early investors.
The coin saw a rise in 2017 alongside other altcoins before falling in price by the end of 2018. In 2021, Dogecoin enjoyed one of its biggest runs, going from under 1 cent to an all-time high of $0.7376.
Read Also: Here’s How Much $100 In Dogecoin Today Could Be Worth If DOGE Hits New All-Time Highs
Musk Tweets: Before and after Dogecoin’s surge in popularity in 2021, the cryptocurrency has consistently garnered support from billionaire Elon Musk. His tweets have frequently fueled significant volatility in the meme coin’s value.
On April 2, 2019, Musk replied to a tweet saying “Dogecoin might be my fav cryptocurrency.”
“It’s pretty cool,” Musk said of winning the fictional title of CEO of Dogecoin in a Twitter poll with 49% of the vote.
Musk beat out Ethereum ETH/USD co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who got 9% of the vote, Litecoin LTC/USD creator Charlie Lee, who got 8% of the vote, and payment-processing platform Metal founder Marshall Hayner, who got 33% of the vote.
Another significant moment for Dogecoin’s entry point was on July 17, 2020, marked by Musk’s tweet about the digital currency.
On that fateful day, Musk shared a meme of Dogecoin passing the global financial system saying, “It’s inevitable.”
Musk has tweeted multiple times about Dogecoin since then, and several of his companies have even accepted the cryptocurrency as payment. Musk’s acquisition of social media platform Twitter, now known as X, has led to several price spikes for Dogecoin, with some believing the coin will be integrated into the platform.
Investing $100 in DOGE: Dogecoin traded at $0.002552 on April 2, 2019, around the time of Musk’s first tweet mentioning Dogecoin. If you bought $100 in Dogecoin at that time, you would have 39,185 DOGE today. The value of the $100 investment would now be $17,010.21 based on a current Dogecoin price of $0.4341 at the time of writing. This represents a hypothetical return of 16,910.2%
Dogecoin traded at $0.003084 on July 17, 2020, at its highest price. A $100 investment on that day could have bought 32,425 DOGE. The value of the $100 investment would have grown to $14,943.89 today. This represents a hypothetical return of 14,843.9%
Dogecoin hit an all-time high of $0.07376 in May 2021. At its peak, these $100 investments in Dogecoin based on Musk’s tweets would have been worth $28,902.86 and $23,916.68, respectively.
The potential for X to integrate Dogecoin into its payments, Musk’s new role in the Department of Government Efficiency, or D.O.G.E. for short, and a new pro-crypto White House administration could be future catalysts to send Dogecoin’s price higher.
Dogecoin hit a new one-year high of $0.4775 in November and is up over 370% year-to-date in 2024.
Investors of Dogecoin from Musk’s tweets or earlier this year are likely saying “much wow.”
Read Next:
This article was previously published by Benzinga and has been updated.
Image created using artificial intelligence via Midjourney.
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
