You can’t go online and not find the word blockchain in any tweet or post. What is blockchain, and what is its definition?
If you’re a tech investor, you have probably come across cryptocurrency news and forums that rave about meme coins.
Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk have been the most prominent crusaders of Dogecoin meme currency. The meme cryptocurrency’s price volatility has been caused by the tweets of technocrats. On June 2, when he posted an meme that bears a striking resemblance with his childhood, the prices of meme cryptocurrency rose significantly.
Musk also revealed that SpaceX would launch the “DOGE-1 Mission To the Moon” in the third quarter of 2022. The commercial rocket company will accept the meme-inspired cryptocurrency Dogecoin for payment.
Geometric Energy released a statement quoting SpaceX Vice President for Commercial Sales Tom Ochinero as saying, “This mission will prove the application of cryptocurrency beyond Earth orbit”
Musk stated that SpaceX would put a “literal Dogecoin” on the literal moon.
What is meme cryptocurrency?
Dogecoin was founded by Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus, two software engineers. It began as a joke payment system. This started the era meme cryptocurrencies. To the delight of the engineers, the coin was launched to “dethrone” the most valuable and popular cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Dogecoin.com received over a million visitors within its first month.
According to Coinmarketcap.in, several meme currencies have gained popularity since then. They currently have a market capitalisation of more than 47 billion. The challenge lies not in the creation of these coins, but also the acceptance of them as currency when they are used to exchange services. The price of these coins rises, which theoretically means that their value and usability will also increase.
Despite the creation of hundreds of meme currencies every day, Dogecoin still holds the number 1 position with a capitalisation of more than 42 billion. Dogecoin’s supply is unlimited, unlike Bitcoin.
Many people are now jumping on board the crypto train, as the popularity of crypto is growing worldwide. A new coin, SHIB, was created by Ryoshi in August 2020 to counter the Dogecoin mania. According to CoinMarketCap at the time this article was written, it is modeled after Dogecoin. It has a market capitalisation exceeding Rs 2.7 billion.
Both meme currencies share the same face, but dogecoin is on its own blockchain while Shiba Inu uses the Ethereum blockchain.
Miffed Regulators
Although the meme currency was welcomed by the cryptocurrency community and short-term speculative investors with open arms (and many other speculative investors did), regulators around the globe have expressed dissatisfaction at these speculative options and called for tighter currency norms.
The Thai Securities and Exchange Commission prohibited trading fan-based tokens and meme-based tokens together with other digital assets.
The US Securities and Exchange chief Gary Gensler, who was recently appointed, has urged for tougher regulation of cryptocurrency. Gensler spoke out about the “highly volatile, speculative asset category”. He also pointed to the substantial growth in valuations of these assets over the past five years.
India’s Supreme Court has quashed the 2018 circular of the central bank warning customers not to use their services to trade in cryptocurrency and threatening account suspension if they don’t comply. Shaktikanta Das, Governor of RBI, stated that the central bank had raised serious concerns about cryptocurrency to the Government at the 7th edition India Economic Conclave.
Bank of England Gov. also agreed with this sentiment. Andrew Bailey warned that investors must be ready to lose all of their money if they invest with these coins.
What is the future?
Although governments and regulators have been reluctant to accept digital assets, this has not stopped the cryptocurrency community’s belief in its potential.
This joke started out as a joke and has become a major media topic. Financial experts are closely following the development of these tokens. Musk is also the most prominent advocate for Dogecoin, a meme currency.
Dogecoin has accomplished many feats, including raising funds for charities and other worthy causes.
In 2014, the Dogecoin community had raised more than $36,000 in order for the Jamaican Bobsled team to participate in the Olympic Winter Games. They donated the meme currency. This transaction caused the Dogecoin to Bitcoin exchange rate to increase by 50% in just 12 hours.
The Dogecoin community also crowdfunded 67.8 Million Dogecoins (around $55,000 at that time) to sponsor Josh Wise, a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver.
While cryptocurrency is still uncertain globally, the meme currency has a long way before it is considered serious. This is especially true when compared to Bitcoin and its stronger counterparts. The meme currency is too valuable to be dismissed.