From being simply a meme on Reddit eight years ago, Dogecoin has managed to become one of the most lucrative business ventures in recent years. 

According to Business Insider, the shiba inu (dog breed) and bitcoin fusion was once a joke between IBM software engineer Billy Markus and Adobe software engineer Jackson Palmer. Eventually a partnership was formed between the two as Dogecoin launched in 2013, after buying the domain Dogecoin.com. Throughout the years, Redditors helped develop Dogecoin’s own subculture.

Dogecoin, like GameStop, was brought into the eyes of the public by Redditors on the sub WallStreetBets. It only intensified as Elon Musk was brought into the fold. 

Musk has become an avid supporter of Dogecoin since early this year due to the hype brought around the cryptocurrency. He himself wanted to join Dogecoin since his previous failure of not joining Bitcoin when he could, costing him millions of dollars. According to The Richest, He used social media to hype Dogecoin further and get multiple celebrities such as Snoop Dogg, Mark Cuban, Jake Paul, and more to boost Dogecoin’s value. 

Musk, the self proclaimed ‘Dogefather’ has been further boosting it on SNL, as it has managed to reach Mark Cuban who himself was talking it up on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Many celebs have been tweeting about it nonstop with tweets such as “$DOGE TO THE MOON AND WE NOT COMING BACK”, “Crypto is the future”, and “All I’m saying… $doge.”

Dogecoin is being used more and more by businesses, as the more that people spend it, the more it will become a common thing amongst retailers/retail traders. 

Robinhood, a stock trading app, has announced that they are working on a feature that lets people deposit and withdraw holdings on Robinhood Crypto for Dogecoin and the rest of the cryptocurrencies. 

Through all of the success and fame, Dogecoin has received skepticism from those in the business world. According to David Kimberly in an interview with Forbes, “People are buying the cryptocurrency, not because they think it has any meaningful value, but because they hope others will pile in, push the price up, and then they can sell off and make a quick buck… when everyone is doing this, the bubble eventually has to burst and you’re going to be left shortchanged if you don’t get out in time. And it’s almost impossible to say when that’s going to happen.” – Said David Kimberly in an interview with Forbes.

After being around for eight years, firstly as a meme and now as a business venture of modern times, with the help of the “Dogefather,” Musk, Dogecoin has risen to be one of the most talked about things of 2021.