Dogecoin Explained: The Original Memecoin, Its Supply and Its Story
Dogecoin is the original memecoin: created on December 6, 2013 as a joke based on the Doge meme, it has no maximum supply and adds 5 billion coins every year. It remains the largest memecoin by market value, with a peak above $85 billion in May 2021.
Most memecoins appear and vanish in weeks. Dogecoin has lasted more than a decade, which makes it the best case study of what a memecoin is and what it is not.
The basics
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Created | December 6, 2013 by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer |
| Meme | The "doge" image of the Shiba Inu dog Kabosu |
| Own blockchain | Yes, a separate chain based on proof of work |
| Hashing | Scrypt-based, so Bitcoin's SHA-256 mining hardware cannot be used |
| Block time | About 1 minute |
| Supply | No cap. 5 billion new coins are issued every year |
This is a key difference from memecoins on launchpads: Dogecoin is its own network with miners, not a token contract on another chain. See what a memecoin is for the token model most new coins use.
Why the supply has no cap
In early 2014, Palmer announced that a supply cap would not be coded in, to keep inflation steady. The 100 billionth coin was mined by mid-2015, and the network keeps adding 5 billion per year. Because supply grows at a fixed number, inflation as a percentage becomes smaller each year, but it never reaches zero. Whether that is a feature or a flaw depends on the view: supporters say it keeps coins cheap to use for payments and tipping, critics say there is no scarcity to support a price.
From joke to a $85 billion market
- 2013 to 2020: A small community, tipping on Reddit and Twitter and charity drives.
- December 20, 2020: Elon Musk's first Dogecoin-related post, "One Word: Doge".
- April 15, 2021: After "Doge Barking at the Moon", the price rose by more than 100% that day.
- May 4 to 5, 2021: The price passed $0.50 for the first time, and the market cap went above $85 billion on May 5.
Later, investors filed a lawsuit against Musk alleging Dogecoin had been used in a pyramid scheme. That is an allegation in litigation, not a finding.
What Dogecoin shows about memecoins
- Brand beats technology. Dogecoin's technology came from Litecoin's lineage and was never the selling point. The name and community were.
- One famous voice can move a price. That cuts both ways, as the market falls just as quickly when attention drops.
- Survival is rare. Most coins of its era are gone. See lifespan statistics.
- Size does not remove risk. Dogecoin's price fell sharply after the 2021 peak, as any memecoin's can.
Recent developments
In 2025 and 2026, the House of Doge, a corporate entity tied to the Dogecoin ecosystem, bought stakes in sports clubs: it became the largest equity holder in the Italian club US Triestina Calcio 1918 in summer 2025 and the main investor in an expansion ice hockey team, Milano Hockey Club, in spring 2026, according to Wikipedia. That shows the brand being turned into sports and media ventures, which is a different thing from a price promise.
Where it stands
As of September 16, 2026, CoinCentral listed Dogecoin first among memecoins at about $12.59 billion, far ahead of Shiba Inu at $2.95 billion. See the biggest memecoins by market cap for the ranking and for caveats on reading it.
Dogecoin versus a new Elysium coin
Comparing them clarifies what you are looking at on a screener. Dogecoin has a decade of history, wide exchange liquidity and a spread-out holder base. A coin launched yesterday on Elysium has none of that. The same checks apply to both, but they matter far more for the second. See the pre-buy checklist.
Sources
Numbers and dates were checked on November 11, 2026 and can change. Nothing here is financial advice.
FAQ
Who created Dogecoin?
Software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, who launched it on December 6, 2013.
Does Dogecoin have a maximum supply?
No. About 5 billion new coins are issued each year, and a cap was deliberately never coded in.
How is Dogecoin different from coins on a launchpad?
Dogecoin runs on its own proof-of-work blockchain, while most new memecoins are token contracts on another chain.
What was Dogecoin's peak market cap?
More than $85 billion on May 5, 2021, according to Wikipedia.
Open ElyScreener →