Dogecoin Price - DOGE/NZD : $0.71655

Dogecoin is an open-source cryptocurrency that started out as a big joke. To the surprise of its developers, DOGE found fast fame and quickly grew into one of the leading digital currencies by market cap. It began a new craze in crypto, which saw the release of many other dog-based currencies also based on viral internet memes.

Dogecoin utilises blockchain technology and is a highly secure and decentralised system free from third-party interference. Its peer-to-peer network is powered by Dogecoin users.

Based on Bitcoin

Dogecoin runs on a dedicated blockchain that was indirectly based on Bitcoin’s code. This is why Dogecoin shares many characteristics of Bitcoin, including its hash and consensus mechanism.

Eventually, Dogecoin made a few changes and switched from being a proof-of-work (PoW) protocol to an auxiliary proof-of-work consensus mechanism (AuxPoW). The two algorithms have their similarities but differ in how the winning miner is selected. In AuxPoW, the miner chosen to finish validating the block is done by a lottery instead of competing with CPU power and mining pools. Dogecoin also changed its hashing algorithm to Scrypt technology, making mining faster and less power-intensive than its original SHA-256.

Putting the fun in crypto

Dogecoin was created to be different from other cryptocurrencies. Although it was intended just as a parody, its unique, fun nature stood out among the serious cryptocurrency market. Dogecoin made crypto more approachable and accessible for those outside the market, which increased acceptance in the real world.