Even though our kids — 30, 32 and 33 — are well aware that Mrs. Denmarkguy and I are involved in Bitcoin and the cryptosphere, they have never really shown much interest... preferring instead to pursue more "traditional" avenues with their money, and — to the extent that they are able to — their investments.
There's that DOGE again! Image Source
All that changed a couple of weeks ago when middle son — as a casual "by the way" at the end of a longer conversation — declared that he had "invested in Dogecoin because Elon Musk keeps talking about it." In addition, he was familiar with it as a "tipping coin" from some gaming forums he's been part of for years and years.
He seemed pretty pleased with himself for having put about $1,000 in when Doge was around 6 cents. As I write these words, Coinmarketcap says that Doge is currently trading at about 30 cents.
Since he was basically just dipping his toes into the world of cryptocurrency, this was not the time for a lecture on inflation, shitcoins, having a plan, decentralization, anarchism and viable alternatives to old school banking. So I left my feedback at "that's very cool, but keep in mind that this is probably a better thing to put your money into for short to intermediate term gains than for the long term."
But SERIOUSLY, Though...
His news did get me to pause and consider what it is we're trying to do, here in the world of blockchains and cryptocurrency.
One of the first things that came to mind — as I have been reading comment after comment and post after post sharing DISGUST and disbelief by ”serious” blockchainiacs — is that perhaps we have a tendency to take ourselves a little bit too seriously.
Doge may be a “joke” coin, but it has its purpose. And it may be that a large part of this purpose, is precisely the fact that it's a meme coin and it doesn't set out to solve any of the world's great problems. It's just fun; it's a meme; it's on the stupid side. But let's get real: Doge isn't Bitcoin. Not only that, it has never even pretended to be Bitcoin — quite the contrary, it's actually a sort of deliberate mockery of Bitcoin.
That said, it has been around much longer than most cryptos, and it has certainly been used considerably more than some of the "amazing" projects out there that actually amount to little more than vaporware.
What am I getting at here?
If it takes a Dogecoin and an Elon Musk shilling it in order to get a whole new group of people interested in cryptocurrency, why exactly is that such a bad thing?
The vast majority of people actually don't care about having a better course for humanity charted for them and having alternatives to US dollars or euros or yen... they just wanna enjoy themselves, have fun, and maybe earn a few bucks in the process, and suck down a beer or two.
There's a reason there are far more cat videos than crypto videos on YouTube. There's a reason why memes on the Internet number in the billions.
The importance of jokes as an indirect way forward in the cultural sense isn't exactly a new concept. Consider that in times long gone by it was most often the court jester who was the only person able to criticize and make fun of the current ruler without earning an immediate trip to the gallows.
Fast forward to today, consider how many people are more likely to get their opinions and news from the Comedy Channel then from network news.
Philosophical Uppityness...
Of course, the other aspect of Doge that seems to give people fits is the lack of a "fixed supply."
How is is going to *increase in VALUE, if they can keep minting it till eternity?
Wait... what?
I've read some of these criticisms (many, in fact), and they all seem to center on this idea that with an unlimited supply, Doge could "never go 100x." And thus (by extension) is a poor candidate for mooning and getting people a Lambo.
Doesn't that miss the entire point of cryptocurrency as an alternative currency; an alternative to Dollars, Pounds, Euro, Yen and Won?
If you consider it a bit more objectively, doesn't Doge actually come closer to doing precisely what the original promise of cryptocurrencies offered: An actual monetary payment system? By extension, isn't it actually the notion that if we have crypto we'll become RICH that's that's the outdated "greed is good" bastardization of what cryptos originally intended to be?
An uncomfortable question for some, I expect...
So on reflection, maybe it doesn't really matter what I (we) think about Doge; what matters is that the cryptosphere gained a new member.
Thanks for reading and have a great week!
How about YOU? What's your opinion about DOGE? Is it the joke of the universe? Or does it actually have its place, within the great crypto world? Could it actually HELP crypto by bringing in people who otherwise would NOT be interested? Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!
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Created at 20210421 13:52 PDT
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