When you get into a discussion with any cryptocurrency enthusiast, and the topic changes to altcoins, you are bound to talk about DogeCoin sooner or later. Even though DogeCoin might not be the most valuable altcoin out there, it is definitely the most talked about. You simply cannot think or talk about altcoins without such Doge.

What started out as a fun altcoin for most enthusiasts, quickly turned into one of the biggest stories when cryptocurrency is concerned. Even though DogeCoin does not offer any specific technical innovations, they do have an incredibly large and dedicated community. Not only on Reddit or BitcoinTalk, but DogeCoin fans can be found all over the world. Very support, much countries, such people!

“Dogecoin was created by programmer Billy Markus from Portland, Oregon, who hoped to create a fun cryptocurrency that could reach a broader demographic than Bitcoin. In addition, he wanted to distance it from the controversial history behind Bitcoin, mainly its association with the Silk Road online drug marketplace. At the same time, Jackson Palmer, a member of Adobe Systems' marketing department in Sydney, Australia, was encouraged on Twitter by a student at Front Range Community College to make the idea a reality”

Cointelegraph recently conducted an interview with Jackson Palmer, who mentioned he is currently not involved in the development of DogeCoin anymore. He is still helping out with fun DogeCoin projects however :

“I'm not actively involved in the development of the coin anymore. There's a core team that I handed over to there. I'm more involved holistically in the digital currency space and help with community outreach on behalf of Dogecoin, such as this interview. Basically, if there's something to do with Dogecoin that's about having fun or supporting a great cause, then I'll be involved. If it involves people just wanting to get rich off cryptocurrency, or politics, then I tend to take a back seat. I'm still involved in fun Dogecoin projects but am also advising several cryptocurrency startups to help further the awareness and mainstream adoption of digital currency.”

While aiming to maintain roughly 100 billion DogeCoin after 1,5 years in existence, which will be around January 2015, there is no scarcity where this altcoin is concerned. The current DogeCoin block reward is 125,000 DOGE, which will halve after block 400,000. Keeping in mind this altcoin can be mined through the Scrypt algorithm, and with Scrypt ASICS being delivered to more and more miners, mining DogeCoin does seem very attractive.

But if your DogeCoin isn’t worth all that much, what is drawing in so many people? The short answer is incredible marketing. Over the span of the past 7 months, DogeCoin has managed some incredible achievements, some of which you might not have even heard of. With a dedicated community and a very marketable name, DogeCoin has become more popular than ever before.

- Doge, the official mascot of DogeCoin

Early January of this year, the DogeCoin community managed to raise no less than US$60,000 for the Jamaican Bobsled Team. As the Jamaican Bobsled Team managed to qualify for the Sochi Winter Olympics of this year, but could not afford to attend the event due to financial reasons, the DogeCoin community intervened. As a result of this fundraiser, the DogeCoin exchange rate increased by 50% at that point in time. The DOGE community also managed to raise funds for an individual Sochi athlete, called Shiva Keshavan

On the heels of this feat of strength, the DogeCoin Foundation raised 40 million DOGE, worth US$30,000 at that time, to build a well in the Tana river basin in Kenya. This fundraiser was done in collaboration with the Charity:water charity, and the goal was to collect the necessary funds before March 22, which is World Water Day. The DogeCoin campaign succeeded after receiving contributions from over 4,000 donors.

Perhaps the most famous piece of DogeCoin marketing comes in the form of Dogecar, driven by NASCAR driver Josh Wise. In order to make this project a reality, a total of 67.8 million DOGE (worth US$55,000) was raised on March 25th. The Dogecar made its first appearance at the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. This was not the only Dogecar appearance however, as it also raced during the Sprint All-Star Race thanks to overwhelming online votes by the fans, and even beating Danica Patrick’s number of votes in the process. The Dogecar also raced during the Coca-Cola 600 and the Toyota/Save Mart 350. It will also make an appearance during the GEICO 500 later this year. All of this attention also lead to the NASCAR ‘14 game develope looking into adding the DogeCar as a drivable car in an upcoming DLC.

But there are a lot more facts to be known about DogeCoin. For instance, DogeCoin surpassed the trading volume of not only Bitcoin, but also all other cryptocurrencies combined by January 2014. Even though the trading volume has dropped slowly ever since, DogeCoin still holds a market cap of over US$18 million, according to CoinMarketCap.

Did you know the DogeCoin logo has actually travelled to space? Or to be more precise, the DogeCoin logo went to the moon! You can find out more details about DogeCoin in space by reading this article. DogeCoin has also made an appearance in virtual space, thanks to the MMORPG VoidSpace.

“The game will allow players to perform Dogecoin transactions between each other. This will allow players to have in-game businesses that actually make them real money.”

DogeCoin has become a very popular trading pair on some of the worlds biggest exchanges, including BTC38, Bter, Vault of Satoshi and Cryptsy. Not only can you trade DogeCoin against Bitcoin and/or Litecoin, but some exchanges even offer DOGE/USD, DOGE/CNY and other DOGE/fiat currency trading pairs. Some of the smaller exchanges, such as SwissCex, even support DogeCoin trading markets, where other altcoins can be traded against DogeCoin.

Further adoption by DogeCoin has come in the form of the first DogeCoin ATM, which was demoed at CoinFest in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in February 2014. Shortly afterwards, on March 17 2014, two Bitcoin ATMs, which also support DogeCoin, launched in Tijuana Mexico. DogeCoin has also been used to sell a house and in both the poker and adult industries.