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Its Majesty, Dogecoin - the first meme coin that appeared back in 2013 as a "silly" alternative to the then-serious nature of cryptocurrencies.
Unlike Bitcoin, which is designed to have a limited quantity (and thus is resistant to inflation), Dogecoin was intentionally made to be available in unlimited quantities and without a maximum number of tokens in circulation.
Specifically, 10 000 new Dogecoins are released into circulation every minute.
That Dogecoin is not just another passing meme coin is also proven by the fact that it has had concrete use cases.
For example, Dogecoin sponsored several sporting events and teams, including the Jamaican bobsleigh team's trip to the 2014 Winter Olympics, a NASCAR driver named Josh Wise, and a project in Kenya called "Doge4Water".
t's also possible to pay with DOGE cryptocurrency on certain platforms and E-Commerce websites.
Where is Dogecoin accepted as a payment method?
The popularity of Dogecoin has grown so much over the years that certain companies have decided to introduce it as a payment method for purchasing their products.
For instance, it's possible to buy official merchandise and tickets for games of the American basketball team The Dallas Mavericks with Dogecoin.
Interestingly, airBaltic became the first airline in the world to allow its passengers to buy plane tickets with Dogecoin.
Besides these two examples, globally recognized companies like Twitch, Tesla, and GameStop have also adopted Dogecoin as a payment method.
Shiba Inu (SHIB)
Shiba Inu (SHIB) is an ERC-20 altcoin based on Ethereum's blockchain, also known for featuring a Shiba Inu dog on the coin (similar to Dogecoin).
This meme coin was created in August 2020 by an anonymous group of people (or a single person, it's not exactly clear) under the pseudonym Ryoshi.
The initial idea behind creating the Shiba Inu coin was to create a coin that is fully driven and developed by its community, earning it the nickname "Dogecoin killer" over time.
A key component of the Shiba Inu ecosystem is ShibaSwap, a decentralized exchange that allows users to trade between SHIB and other tokens, stake coins to earn rewards, and participate in so-called liquidity pools.
Interestingly, Shiba Inu experienced one of the most significant price surges in the history of the crypto market.
Specifically, in 2021, it recorded a return of an astonishing 43,800,000%!
In other words, if someone had invested just $5 in Shiba, they would have made a profit of an incredible $2,190,005.
However, of course, due to the volatile nature of cryptocurrencies, especially meme coins, such fluctuations are nearly impossible to predict.
Pepe (PEPE)
Pepe (PEPE) is another meme coin launched on the Ethereum blockchain.
It was created as a tribute to the internet meme Pepe the Frog, which gained popularity in the early 2000s.
The aim of this crypto project is to establish itself as one of the most famous meme coins alongside DOGE and SHIBA.
Given that it has been in circulation since mid-2023 and frequently ranks among the top 50 cryptocurrencies for trading, it could be said that it has succeeded in its goal.
The rapid rise of PEPE coin led to a jump in its total market capitalization to an incredible 1.6 billion dollars, sparking a real avalanche of meme coins.
PEPE's rise has literally made millionaires out of all those who invested early in this coin.
dogwifhat (WIF)
By now, you could have noticed that the most common mascot for a meme coin is - a dog.
In this case, it's a dog with a cap on its head, or dogwifhat (WIF).
Dogwifhat is a meme coin that operates on the Solana blockchain network and is another crypto project inspired by the Shiba Inu dog, but this one wears a pink knitted cap.
Now, why is a dog with a cap so popular that it ended up on our list?
Since its launch in December 2023, the value of WIF tokens has been steadily increasing, reaching a market capitalization of a whopping 2.2 billion US dollars when it was officially listed on Binance's exchange.
Several factors have contributed to the rapid growth in value of WIF:
- The "playfulness" of this meme coin (sometimes, it's enough for investors to be amused by a coin for them to invest, no matter how absurd it may sound)
- Meme coins are generally popular, so it was only a matter of time before they made a breakthrough in the market
- It received support on Twitter from well-known individuals in the crypto community
- It has a limited supply of tokens in circulation