Dogecoin came on to the scene as something of a joke, but it rapidly exploded in the market through the power of online communities that pushed it skyward. Billy Markus from Portland, Oregon, first developed DOGE as a currency for fun, naming it after the "doge" meme of Shiba Inu. It swiftly and unexpectedly grew in value, as thousands of users and entire online communities came into existence for the purpose of sharing the currency and posting new memes about the coin online. This generation of hype paid off, and it has found its place among the top cryptocurrencies of the market today. What is Dogecoin all about? Dogecoin is an altcoin that was designed to appeal to a broader demographic than Bitcoin . Initially, it was intended to have a fresh and fun feel that would distance it from the controversies of Bitcoin's past. As of September 2017, it broke into the market's top 10, with several of the online exchanges offering DOGE/LTC (LiteCoin) and DOGE/BTC (Bitcoin).Many other altcoins are working to become something broader and greater than a mere platform for currency transactions, but Dogecoin sticks to its routes. It is now commonly used on platforms like Reddit and Twitter as a means of tipping users for valuable content. DogeCoin reached its maximum cap of 100 billion coins in June 2015, and the coins remain at a fairly low value when compared to altcoins that have a more limited number available. But the consistency it has shown, and its continuing presence among such large online communities, is allowing it to gradually cement its place among the top altcoins . And as the more conservative forecasts predict a potential for each coin to reach a value of $0.10, there are some who feel its real growth could hit $0.25, and even reach $1 in the long term.