狗狗幣Dogecoin是什麼？讓Elon Musk也瘋狂 狗狗幣的起源、用途介紹 #虛擬貨幣 (160001)
GME軋空事件震撼了美國金融圈，除了股票市場動盪之外，虛擬貨幣也連帶受到了影響。日前台灣中央銀行粉絲專頁發表了一篇介紹「狗狗幣」的貼文，狗狗幣(Dogecoin)又稱為「多吉幣」或「旺旺幣」，和比特幣(Bitcoin)同樣屬於虛擬貨幣的一種。2021年初GME事件發生，狗狗幣在美國Reddit鄉民和Elon Musk的連帶鼓吹之下達到超過800%的漲幅，出乎意料地再度成為了金融圈的話題焦點。雖然狗狗幣如今已成為世界上流通的主要虛擬貨幣之一，但事實上，狗狗幣的起源只不過是一句玩笑話，它的建立也可以歸因於網路迷因的流行。為什麼狗狗幣叫做「狗狗幣」？和網路迷因有什麼關係呢？讓我們繼續看下去。
相較於比特幣起源於一篇嚴肅的學術論文，狗狗幣的誕生可說是非常「獨特」，它的創造可以說是網路流行話題的結合，也因此狗狗幣的代表圖案就是知名的迷因Doge。相信大部分的人都曾經看過柴犬Doge(狗狗的實際名字為Kabosu，醋橙，但迷因稱之為Doge)的梗圖，1隻日本柴犬配上特定的文字說明，在台灣尤其以「關於感情的問題我一律建議分手」為最主要的流行。
2013年正逢比特幣興起，許多跟風的山寨虛擬貨幣也像春筍般冒出，而同時鋪天蓋地的Doge梗圖也直接或間接造成了網路使用者的精神汙染。狗狗幣的創始人之一，Jackson Palmer當時是Adobe的員工，他用一種諷刺的幽默感將Doge梗圖和虛擬貨幣結合，製作了一張有著Doge頭像的貨幣。Jackson Palmer將這張惡搞圖案放上Twitter，寫著「投資狗狗幣吧！這將是下一件大事(或譯為『一定可以大賺一筆』)」的貼文內容，在發佈之後，這則貼文很快地受到廣大網友們的迴響，於是Jackson Palmer在網友們的鼓吹之下，買下dogecoin.com網域，並在網站留下訊息，徵求想要讓狗狗幣成真的夥伴。
事實上，Jackson Palmer對於加密貨幣一竅不通，狗狗幣也真的只是一個玩笑話，從來沒有想過會真的實現。然而，IBM的工程師Billy Markus在偶然下看見了狗狗幣的訊息，Billy Markus一直都有研究加密貨幣，希望能夠創造出一款讓人們可以廣泛使用，而非單純使用於投資的虛擬貨幣。於是Billy Markus在見到狗狗幣網站後，聯繫了Jackson Palmer，二人的合作讓狗狗幣正式誕生，並且在網路迷因的散播之下，dogecoin.com網站短短30天之內就有超過百萬名訪客。
▲狗狗幣介紹。創造於2013年12月，由萊特幣(Litecoin，比特幣的改進)中派生出來。狗狗幣將挖礦(mining)改成挖洞(diging)，並且將字體改成Doge迷因中使用的Comic Sans字體。
狗狗幣的創辦人Jackson Palmer曾經提過，狗狗幣和比特幣最大的不同，在於狗狗幣並非為了投資而生，因此它擁有更低的挖礦(挖洞)門檻、更方便的購買方式、以及更低的交易費用。在理想的情況下，狗狗幣被設定為一種輕鬆詼諧的虛擬貨幣，它站在虛擬貨幣投資的對立面，一開始設定為1000億個，後續則改為數量無上限，保護狗狗幣的價格。
因為狗狗幣並不值錢，它最常使用在小費和打賞的情況，網友可以在網路上用狗狗幣表達感謝、支持，且因為一般人無法擁有比特幣等其他虛擬貨幣，狗狗幣正好填補了這樣的空缺，讓對虛擬貨幣有興趣的人更容易參與。狗狗幣也常被使用在慈善行為，在2014年，當狗狗幣社群見到牙買加雪橇代表隊沒有經費參與冬季奧運的時候，他們建立了募款活動，最終成功讓雪橇隊可以出國比賽。
對於雪橇隊的比賽支持讓狗狗幣多出了一種俠義的形象，接下來狗狗幣還完成了肯亞水井挖掘募資計畫、以及在2014年3月成功募集了6780萬狗狗幣(當時約5.5萬美元)，贊助NASCAR駕駛員Josh Wise比賽。Josh Wise讓賽車使用狗狗幣的贊助塗裝，這讓狗狗幣在比賽過程中被評論員提起，車體亮相的同時也為狗狗幣宣傳。
▲狗狗幣塗裝賽車，後來美國狗狗幣鄉民的力量也讓Josh Wise在粉絲投票比賽中勝出。(圖片來源：Wiki)
Good to see @Josh_Wise bring back the @dogecoin helmet last weekend! That was such an awesome deal to be apart of pic.twitter.com/VaLUt3LssY
Forget Dogecoin, These 3 Tech Stocks Are Better Buys Right Now
Dogecoin (CRYPTO:DOGE) is a minor cryptocurrency that initially gained some traction during the cryptocurrency bubble three years ago. Interest in dogecoin seemingly faded after that bubble popped, but its price abruptly surged about 850% this year.
The rally started as speculative traders on Reddit dubbed it the “next Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC),” and additional support from celebrities like Elon Musk, Snoop Dogg, and Gene Simmons propelled its price to all-time highs.
However, there’s very little evidence that Dogecoin will ever gain as much mainstream recognition or acceptance as Bitcoin. So instead of making brash bets on a cryptocurrency inspired by a meme, investors should check out these three adjacent tech stocks instead.
- Square
Square (NYSE:SQ) is mainly an online payments provider, but it also represents one of the easiest ways to gain exposure to Bitcoin without directly buying the cryptocurrency or investing in an overpriced ETF.
Square buys Bitcoin for two purposes. First, it holds it on its balance sheet as an investment. At the end of 2020, Bitcoin accounted for roughly 5% of its $3.16 billion in cash and cash equivalents.
Second, it lets its Cash App users buy and sell Bitcoin. It buys the Bitcoin for those users and sells it at a slight premium to the market price. Square claims over 3 million of Cash’s 36 million active users purchased or sold Bitcoin in 2020, and over a million users bought Bitcoin for the first time this January.
Square’s Bitcoin revenue from its Cash App surged 785% to $4.57 billion, or 48% of its top line, in 2020. That stunning growth offset its slower growth in transaction, subscription, and services revenue throughout the pandemic, and its total revenue more than doubled to $9.5 billion.
Square’s higher dependence on lower-margin Bitcoin revenue during the pandemic squeezed its margins, but its other payment and seller services should recover after the crisis ends and stabilize its profits again. That’s why analysts expect its revenue and earnings to both rise 45% this year.
- NVIDIA
NVIDIA’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) high-end GPUs were used to mine many types of cryptocurrencies, including Dogecoin, during the previous bubble.
But that bubble was a double-edged sword for NVIDIA: Its GPU sales initially surged as miners hoarded the cards, but the subsequent shortage of GPUs boosted market prices for its core market of PC gamers. After the bubble popped, the miners flooded the market with used GPUs – which drove down prices and cannibalized NVIDIA’s sales of new GPUs.
To avoid another cryptocurrency bubble, NVIDIA recently halved the hash rate, which gauges the efficiency of its GPUs in mining cryptocurrencies, for its newest RTX gaming GPUs.
It also launched a new line of CMPs (cryptocurrency mining processors) which are specifically designed for mining cryptocurrencies. That balanced approach could help NVIDIA profit from the growth of the cryptocurrency mining market while continuing to expand its core gaming business.
Analysts expect NVIDIA’s revenue and earnings to rise 33% and 34%, respectively, this year as it sells more gaming and data center GPUs. The expansion of its new CMP business could complement that growth.
- Lemonade
Lemonade (NYSE:LMND), the online insurance company that uses AI and chatbots to streamline applications and process claims, doesn’t directly deal with cryptocurrencies.
However, its automated system runs on blockchain, the same distributed ledger technology that powers cryptocurrency transactions. The combination of Lemonade’s AI algorithms and its “smart contracts,” which are stored within the blockchain, enables the company to ensure users within 90 seconds and process claims within three minutes.
Lemonade claims its platform represents “insurance built for the 21st century,” and it’s gaining a lot of momentum with younger users. The median age of its entry-level customer is about 30, and it currently offers home, renter’s, life, and pet insurance policies. It ended 2020 with more than a million customers – up from just 308,835 at the end of 2018.
Lemonade expects its gross earned premium (the percentage of the gross written premium it retains) to surge more than 70% this year. It isn’t profitable yet, but it’s incurring lower net losses on each plan.
Lemonade is still a speculative stock, and it’s undeniably expensive at nearly 50 times this year’s sales. However, investors looking for a disruptive company that runs on the same technology as Dogecoin and other cryptocurrencies should consider taking a sip of Lemonade.
Elon Musk says that SpaceX is going to ‘put a literal Dogecoin on the literal moon’
Elon Musk tweeted Thursday morning that SpaceX is going to put a dogecoin “on the literal moon.”
Musk regularly tweets memes about both the cryptocurrency and its namesake Shibu Inu.
His company is planning its first civilian space flight to the moon in 2023.
See more stories on Insider’s business page.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted on Thursday that the aerospace company plans to put “a literal Dogecoin on the literal moon.”
Musk is a vocal fan of the cryptocurrency, and has even bought some for his nine-month old son.
He frequently tweets memes starring Shibu Inus, the “doge” dog breed that gives the cryptocurrency its icon and name. He has also said that he plans to buy a Shibu Inu.
Read more: Elon Musk is pumping stocks, cryptocurrencies, and the energy of 49 million loyal followers to dizzying heights. Experts break down the risks of his incessant tweets, from legal trouble to losses for small investors.
This isn’t the first time Musk has alluded to putting the currency on the moon. In late February, he tweeted a meme of a Shibu Inu in a spacesuit on the moon holding a dogecoin flag.
The phrase “to the moon” is used by traders when they expect stock pricing to surge.
It was used during the GameStop saga in January, when Redditors said they would pump several so-called meme stocks “to the moon.”
Cryptocurrency site Cointelegraph reported that, of the 12 people who have walked on the moon, none brought any currency with them.
Musk’s tweet didn’t specify whether he wanted to bring a physical dogecoin coin to the moon, which are sold as memorabilia but do not function as currency.
SpaceX is planning the first commercial, civilian flight round the moon in 2023, with passengers picked by Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa.