For almost a decade now, Dogecoin, something created as a meme, has continued to be invested in as a cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency in its simplest form is a digital currency. While such currencies have seen some success, it has been a slow process as it encourages a far less stable form of currency than national currencies. National currency is the currency regulated by a nation’s government, such as the U.S. dollar circulated in the United States. Whereas the government backs the national currency and carefully manages all changes, cryptocurrency is much more unpredictable as it is not backed by the government.

However, it can also mean drastic rises in value, leading investors to back them. The first majorly successful type of cryptocurrency was Bitcoin. Bitcoin, at its all-time high, sat at around 60,000 dollars per coin. However, the inherent instability of cryptocurrency caught up to the currency when it suddenly sank down to 30,000, before rising back up to 40,000, as stated by Yahoo Finance. Even so, the currency has seen overwhelmingly positive effects for its investors and has caused many to receive high amounts of profit from the experience. And with its success, many others have and are attempting to recreate that success in their own currency. In late 2013, the cryptocurrency named Dogecoin was created.

Popular in 2013, the “doge” meme is about a certain image of a shiba inu dog paired with random thoughts and feelings such as “wow” or “concern” in text. As simple as it seems, the meme grew fast and gained mass popularity through the internet. Meanwhile, Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer put together their own cryptocurrency to pay homage to the meme, as something of a joke. Unlike Bitcoin, they wanted to use their meme mascot to give a more community-based environment surrounding it than the other cryptocurrencies, uniting its users together, according to Dogecoin. Since then, Dogecoin has reached over 12.4 billion stocks.

Despite the huge number of stocks bought, the cryptocurrency hasn’t hit its breakthrough yet. Even though it launched in 2013, the currency didn’t grow until December 2020. Yahoo Finance states that until then, it stood at around 0.0002 dollars, and even at its peak it has only reached about 68 cents. While this may seem like a reason to stop investing, it just means it’s no Bitcoin, at least for now. Instead, people can invest into a sizable amount of stocks for low amounts of money, and see some sort of success with even the smallest rise in its worth. Although to some, even that benefit won’t last for long. While from this standpoint it may seem like a good idea, Dogecoin isn’t bulletproof.

The original basis of starting it off from a meme and creating it as a joke may just be its downfall. While originally its focus on something everyone knows creates something people can feel attached to, even if it is a meme, it is now threatening to make it outdated. People latch onto what they know, which is why a random new cryptocurrency can feel so outlandish and almost scary. However, when the thing people latch onto loses its relevance, the currency loses its relevance as well.

Just like everything people invest into, it is something that needs to be decided by the people. They need to find what they are comfortable with in the risk versus reward factor. However, what isn’t up to opinion is its story: the rise of cryptocurrencies, the Doge meme, and Dogecoin.