This subsection of the Dogecoin Guide deals with the subject of Dogecoin and whether or not Dogecoin possesses any actual value. As you will see the answer is yes it does (to some) and no it doesn't (to others).
Despite the unconventional genesis of the Dogecoin, in 2021, it has experienced a 5000% growth in value. But this begs the question, is there anything tangible to support this market valuation.
Being a meme coin, inherently Doge has no value beyond being a good joke at Bitcoin at its inception. The value of Dogecoin is presently media driven, especially as a result of its comprehensive endorsement by Elon Musk (billionaire and former CEO of Tesla).
Musk has repeatedly endorsed the coin by saying it is his favorite cryptocurrency, that it is the "people's crypto", and that he (through his Space-X Company) would physically plant a Dogecoin on the Moon. To demonstrate Musk's influence on the value of Dogecoin, on June 2, 2021, Doge rallied more than 20% on Musk's tweets of mere encouragement of the coins listing on Coinbase. In fact, the mere anticipation of Musk's appearance on "Saturday Night Live", drove the coin to its all-time high.
In a more traditional sense, looking at use cases for Dogecoin does not provide much in the way of adding value to the coin. Presently, only a handful of businesses accept Dogecoin in payment for goods or services rendered. To add value in this way there must occur a large expansion of the number of businesses accepting the coin as a form of payment. Its only other value use at this time is as a tipping coin on several media web sites. On several sites, Doge can be utilized to tip for good content of posted messages, photos, charts and full articles.
Beyond these two uses, Dogecoin remains true to its origins, a joke. Its main value comes solely from media exposure and limited use abilities. Therefore to most, the coin lacks value
There are, however, your hardcore Dogecoin supporters out there that express a viewpoint contrary to the foregoing. These Dogecoin fanatics are limited in number so I will simply explain their position with limited details.
These fanatics, who call themselves 'dogeconomists', believe Dogecoin fits within the traditional economic uses of money.
Unit of account: Money being a unit of account means that you can measure value, for record keeping, or to compare two seemingly different items. Let's say my frying pan is worth 5000 Doge and your pillow is worth 5000 Doge. Counting the total net worth we can say my frying pan is the same value as your pillow. The 'dogeconomists' maintain that Dogecoin 'could' fit this purpose with more knowledge of the coin and a wider acceptance of the static value of the coin.
Store of value: Money as a store of value in its simplest terms when it comes to Doge means the value of doge today will be the value of Doge tomorrow, and so on. Translated, this means the coin has the same worth on a daily basis to be a store of value. The 'dogeconomists' here believe Dogecoin has the potential to become this. It is their position that once Doge gains traction and loses its volatility as mature coin, Dogecoin will achieve the stability, liquidity, and value to meet this condition of money.
Medium of Exchange: Money, as a medium of exchange is the 'dogeconomists' most promising area of concern. In this area, the fanatics advocate for the acceptance of businesses to trade in Dogecoin. They are hoping for the snowball effect, that with more and more businesses accepting Dogecoin for payment and a growing usage by the public to use the coin for payment, previously resisting businesses not accepting Dogecoin will have to drop their resistance and accept the coin or suffer severe business loses.
These Doge fanatics, or dogeconomists believe that having met the three conditions of money set forth demonstrates the inherent value in the coin. They advance this idea of value of Dogecoin despite the fact their arguments are full of assumptions concerning acceptance of the coin, widespread usage of the coin, business acceptance and other future considerations.
CONCLUSION: At the onset it was maintained that the answer to the question of what gives Dogecoin value, or put better, does the coin have actual value, was both yes and no. The Nos believe that Dogecoin is nothing more than a meme coin, a joke, deriving price value as a result of media drive. This is the prevalent view.
However, the fanatics believe Dogecoin to be valuable as it fits the three conditions of money. This is clearly the minority view concerning the value od Dogecoin.
