狗狗幣Dogecoin「一個玩笑」如何玩到市值突破天際？

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與Bitcoin一樣，「狗狗幣」（Dogecoin）也是加密貨幣的一種，但在近日成為了熱門焦點，皆因其市值暴升。自年初至今，狗狗幣由1美分不到的價格急增至0.7美元的高位，整體市值接近900億美元，比通用汽車公司市值還要高。

到底這隻「小狗」有什麼強大魅力？升值比搭火箭還快？

狗狗幣的起源

狗狗幣創始於2013年，由兩名軟件工程師Billy Markus與Jackson Palmer創設。一開始這不過是一個用作諷刺Bitcoin比特幣的笑話，其標誌是一幅攝自柴犬的頭像，名稱以Doge取代Dog，添一點可愛的感覺。

儘管在2014年狗狗幣曾嘗試過用作籌款及集資，用作慈善及宣傳活動，但狗狗幣一直沒有實際用途，不被視為付款手段，交易金額亦相當細小。價格至2021年，也不過維持在1美分以下。

馬斯克的不停吹棒

直至2021年，狗狗幣才開始再次受到注目，其中一個是在2021年初的GameStop事件。在GameStop股票被持續軋空，股價被瘋狂推高後，價值幾乎等同於零的狗狗幣成為網絡討論區的焦點。與GameStop一樣，當時有大量的網民聲言要把狗狗幣「衝上太空」、「帶到月球」。

這「帶到月球」的承諾，讓狗狗幣在1月價格急升5倍。但真正讓狗狗幣突破天際，是來自Tesla的CEO馬斯克（Elon Musk）的追棒。

馬斯克自1月多次在其個人Twitter上張貼有關狗狗幣的留言，包括雜誌的改圖、動畫電影《獅子王》的改圖、狗狗幣登月的改圖等等。持續的吹棒讓人開始意識到這不僅只是個玩笑。

直到4月，馬斯克重申對狗狗幣的濃厚興趣，並示意會在5月8日出席全國廣播公司（NBC）的深夜喜劇秀《周六夜現場》（Saturday Night Live）為狗狗幣助威。這舉動令狗狗幣瞬速爆升，幣值自4月中不停飆升至今。

升跌無時價值隨時蒸發

不過，狗狗幣與其他加密貨幣一樣，價格波動極大且無法預測。以Bitcoin為例，Bitcoin價格在自2020年尾持續暴漲，價值由年尾的2萬美元急升至今的接近6萬美元。但價錢已自3月開始在高位持續上落，面對電腦的「挖礦潮」出現疲累，誰也無法預料何時下挫，而且當發生時，往往是暴瀉。

加密貨幣交易公司Blockchain的研究負責人希勒曼（Garrick Hileman）警告，狗狗幣的價值隨時蒸發：「特別當這貨幣本來就是個玩笑。」警告投資者要對所有加密貨幣提高警覺。

Following DOGE Listing, Coinbase Gives Away $1.2 Million in Dogecoins

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IgorIgorevich / Getty Images

Coinbase, which listed Dogecoin on its platform earlier this week, announced it would be giving away $1.2 million in DOGE “to celebrate.”

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“Opt in and then buy or sell $100 in DOGE on Coinbase by 06/10/2021 for your chance to win,” the company said in a blog post about its “Dogecoin sweepstakes.”

Coinbase said that one winner will get $300,000 in DOGE, 10 winners will each get $30,000 in DOGE, and 6,000 winners will get $100 in DOGE by around June 17.

Elon Musk couldn’t help himself and following the announcement, tweeted “nice,” which sent DOGE up. The crypto is around $0.36 this morning and has a total market value of $46 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Coinbase explained in its blog post that one of the most common requests the company hears from customers is to be able to buy and sell more cryptocurrencies on its platform.

“We announced a process for listing assets, designed in part to accelerate the addition of more cryptocurrencies. We are also investing in new tools to help people understand and explore cryptocurrencies,” according to the post.

Dogecoin was created as a joke — its name is a reference to a popular internet meme, according to Coinbase.

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“It shares many features with Litecoin. However, unlike Litecoin, there is no limit on the number of Dogecoins that can be produced.” Indeed, unlike Bitcoin, which is designed to be scarce, Dogecoin is intentionally abundant — 10,000 new coins are mined every minute and there is no maximum supply, Coinbase said in the post.

While it has gained incredible traction lately as well as celebrity endorsements, including Mark Cuban and Snoop Dog, just like any other crypto, it’s extremely volatile. If you’re planning on investing in it, you should be ready to stomach wild swings.

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Coinbase lists meme currency dogecoin on its exchange

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Dogecoin (PC-Shutterstock)

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase launched meme currency dogecoin (DOGE) on its exchange on June 4 enabling customers to buy, sell, convert, send, receive, or store DOGE.

“We launched informational asset pages (see DOGE), as well as a new section of the Coinbase website to answer common questions about crypto,” Coinbase said in a blog post adding that DOGE will be supported on Coinbase.com and in the Coinbase Android and iOS apps.

However, the timing of the listing of the meme currency was unlike the Coinbase precedent in its listing of cryptocurrencies as the exchange typically adds cryptocurrencies to its retail platform a few weeks after first listing on the professional version, Coindesk noted.

The exchange is offering investors to opt-in and purchase $100 worth of dogecoin by June 10, 2021, for a chance to win $1.2 million in prizes.

In 2013, Jackson Palmer, then an employee at Adobe, made a satirical tweet (unfortunately lost to the void) about investing in ‘Dogecoin’, his joke cryptocurrency, he did not actually think people would do it. Jackson Palmer had tied up with Billy Markus, an IBM developer, to create the cryptocurrency.

What started as a ‘joke’ became a phenomenon in the digital cryptocurrency space. By 2014, it became the fifth-largest cryptocurrency in the world and it even spawned convention for its fans in San Francisco creatively titled “Dogecon.”

DOGE has also been a favourite of Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk whose tweets have contributed to the price volatility of the meme cryptocurrency.

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