This week, a bunch of independent donors raised enough money to send the Jamaican bobsled team to the Olympics. So once again —
But one of the stories that came out of that story was all about this, right here—
And yes, it pops up phrases like “such currency” and “wow” all over the site. The reason that we started with the Jamaican bobsled team and wound up at a cryptocurrency with a dog on it is because Dogecoin’s subreddit raised $30,000 of the team’s travel price tag. And up until this story broke, I thought it was a joke. And it looks like I wasn’t the only one.
So that still leaves us with the question—what the fuck is Dogecoin? I have much answers.
Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency based on the doge meme. I’m in no way explicitly encouraging you to go out and put your money in doge (you do you, after all), but I do want to share with you how you would go about doing such a thing.
via Meme Burn
Such Cryptocurrency
The name cryptocurrency comes from the word cryptography, which is the word for the art of writing and solving codes. “Crypt,” the beginning of both of those words means something that’s hidden or private. So a cryptocurrency is a few things—made of code (and mined by it) and also hidden, private and therefore hard to counterfeit. A cryptocurrency is decentralized and only has value if people agree it does, so it’s value isn’t influenced by any national bank. In short, it’s money that’s completely divorced from a political entity. Transactions are also peer-to-peer, anonymous, and virtually untraceable because the transactions, like the coins, are made of unique strings of numbers and letters—that means a lot of people use cryptocurrencies for illegal purposes, but philosophically all it means is the transfer of power from an institution to an individual. Much like queer movements, cryptocurrencies are considered a counterculture. Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency to hit the market/internet/world (and we’ve written about that before). Then came the flood of other cryptocurrencies (sometimes called altcoins)—Litecoin, for instance, is a Bitcoin competitor that can be effectively mined (generated by a computer algorithm, but with a limit on the potential total so as to protect the value) on consumer technology rather than the crazy server farm you need to mine Bitcoin.
Dogecoin is based on Litecoin—it can be effectively mined (not the correct word for this currency, but we’ll get to that) on consumer technology. And like all other digital currencies or alternative currencies, it’s culture is marked by a distinct vocabulary.
via Know Your Meme
Many Vocabulary
- Wallet—a place to store your virtual currencies, each currency having its own set of software that enables you to send, receive and keep your currency safe. For Doge, there are two online wallets—DogeVault and DogeAPI. Online wallets lack the security of desktop wallets, so its recommended that you keep larger amounts of Dogecoin on your Windows, Mac OSX or Linux-powered machine. There’s even an Android wallet. If you need pictographic help in using your wallet, How To Doge has an excellent step by step.
- Shibe—now that you have a wallet, you’re called a shibe. A shibe is simply a member of the Dogecoin community, and it’s short for Shiba Inu.
- Digging—this is the Dogecoin term for mining. Because dogs. Here’s how it’s done:
- Waterbowls, also called Faucets—this is a location on the internet that gives out free doge. This one is called In Doge We Trust, so clearly I’m linking to that. It looks like the internet in the 90’s. That seems to be a trend, because Wow Such Faucet also looks like we done time traveled.
- Tipping—this is the primary use for doge right now. Tipping is basically throwing a few doge someone’s way on social media sites if they say something that’s helpful or funny or that you like in some way. This is managed with bots, so you don’t have to know someone’s wallet number to make it happen. Here’s the reddit bot (and here’s the list of subreddits that allow tipping). And here’s the Twitter one. There’s no Facebook bot yet, but never fear—the Dogecoin Foundation is working on that.
via Gawker
Wow Such Fun Facts
- You can use Dogecoins at a few businesses and charities—not a whole hell of a lot, but a few.
- You can also trade them for things.
- This actually was started as a joke—according to an interview with Jackson Palmer on Metro:
Dogecoin started out as a simple tweet, which was me parodying the sheer number of altcoins (alternative cryptocurrencies) coming on the market. Shortly after I posted this, I took live dogecoin.com with a picture of the famous Doge meme photoshopped on a coin. Billy, my co-founder, got in touch with me a couple days later saying he’d turned it into a real thing and the rest is history.
My Verdict?
Did you know that if you visit this handy website, you can see how the market’s doing on 81 cryptocurrencies? And that I read this thing, which claims that Nyan Cat is getting its own virtual currency? My verdict is that the internet, in its entirety, needs to go home. It’s drunk. But at least this particular virtual currency is really fun.
This has been the sixty-fourth installment of Queer Your Tech with Fun, Autostraddle’s nerdy tech column. Not everything we cover is queer per se, but we talk about customizing this awesome technology you’ve got. Having it our way, expressing our appy selves just like we do with our identities. Here we can talk about anything from app recommendations to choosing a wireless printer to web sites you have to favorite to any other fun shit we can do with technology.
Header by Rory Midhani
The internet hasn’t been this drunk since the new My Bloody Valentine album came out.
I don’t understand any of this but I love doge and I wish him luck in his latest financial venture.
I love that you wrote an article about Dogecoin. I feel like my worlds collide when I read your articles on Autostraddle.
I just plain adore you, because I bet you researched the fuck out of this too!
There’s another altcoin called Coinye that is almost as bonkers. It’s not endorsed by its namesake, in fact Kanye threatened to sue them, so they changed their logo from his face to… a half-fish, half-Kanye hybrid!
See look!
I am not making this up, because if I was making it up, I would make a currency based on Marissa from the Real L Word, called ThisIsCrazyCoin.
Holy christ, what is life.
So, my reality check for this has been to briefly consider the social implications of the fact that you need fewer Dogecoin to buy a US dollar than Indonesian Rupiah.
I think everyone needs to meditate on what that means for awhile.
This sounds like Bitcoin??? Except for the part where you can get some free currency.
…really? I can buy dining room chairs, vibrators and rental villas in Jamaica for dogecoins?
Such confuse. Many like. Wow. Wow.
<3 <3 <3
So the thing is, like, I already use one currency that only has value because we collectively decided it should have value. I don’t get why I’d need another one?
So does game currency, like meat on Kingdom of Loathing, count as cryptocurrency? Because if so, I am a fucking multimillionaire! You can finally retire, mom!
Actually, video game currencies do have real world value if you can buy any item at all in the game for real world money. Think about it—if you can pay a game’s creators with USD and get in-game currency in return, that currency now has an exchange value.
Here is one example:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/06/25/155715077/video-game-company-hires-economist-to-study-virtual-worlds
Wow, that’s really interesting! And now that I think about it, I have heard in the chat room on Kingdom of Loathing that people have sold meat and in-game items on ebay for actual USD, so I guess it works that way too.
the title to this post is perfect, as are you, and all of this is so weird! but also everything is weird, so this is just shedding light on all of the regular weirdness, is what i’m available to say about this right now. GO HOME INTERNET.
Wow, many coin, monies, such article, very info.
It’s like collecting pogs way back when, only this time it’s digital currency!
That hipster doge parody just made me realize (part of) why this meme has always made me giggle so hard. Because the inanity of “wow” “such [item]” “much [thing]” reminds me strongly of the inanity of people’s hashtags on Instagram and the like: #dapper #lovelife #soblessed
/crotchety ol’ man post of the day
There’s a it on my Facebook with about 30,000 of these (allegedly). I wasn’t sure whether that was worth much, or whether it was true. But then, he’s got onto his (previously our) school server a few times so I’m never sure what to expect from him except maybe future world domination.
Not sure how ‘boy, became it but by the time if noticed it had already sent. Sorry about the double post.
There’s a boy on my Facebook with about 30,000 of these (allegedly). I wasn’t sure whether that was worth much, or whether it was true. But then, he’s got onto his (previously our) school server a few times so I’m never sure what to expect from him except maybe future world domination.
This info is worth everyone’s attention. When can I find out more?
It’s interesting how DOGE coin managed to be sold at the cost of one person) It’s good that DOGE did not turn out to be such a scam as LUNA, but many investors lost their money and that’s a fact. I decided to try trading with robots after I lost a pretty decent amount on LUNA. Now I’m studying the reviews and so far I’ve settled on https://cryptodaily.se/bitcoin-billionaire-bot-recension/.
I think trading robots will really help me in trading.
Thanks for the article, cryptocurrency is constantly developing and it is very useful to know more about it. Since this is our future, cryptocurrency is already in games, and right now you can already start earning crypto on games. I can advise you a site with the best gaming platforms where you can play for crypto https://www.wtvr.com/brand-spotlight/9-best-online-casinos-in-the-usa-for-crypto-gambling-without-issues
I think it’s cool that there are many options for cryptocurrencies now, and not just bitcoin, ethereum, and so on. Everyone can choose a cryptocurrency for investment. As for crypto exchanges, I can definitely recommend Switchere.com, if you want to buy tron or other cryptocurrencies. The process of registration, purchase is very simple and fast here
Certainly, I understand the confusion around Dogecoin. Originating as a joke, Dogecoin has gained unexpected popularity in the cryptocurrency world. It’s a peer-to-peer digital currency, similar to Bitcoin, but with a playful Shiba Inu dog as its logo. Despite its humorous origins, Dogecoin has garnered a supportive community and has been used for charitable efforts. If you’re curious to learn more about the intricacies of Dogecoin, reputable cryptocurrency platforms can provide comprehensive insights and discussions to help demystify this quirky digital coin.