Dogecoin (DOGE) has not always been a Shiba Inu meme coin. Not many know that at some point the crypto used to sponsor a NASCAR driver. Here are some of the unbelievable stories behind Musk’s favorite crypto.
At first glance, DOGE may look like a fun meme coin after its price exploded in 2021. But, behind the face of this coin are some horrific stories. Those investors buying the crypto due to jokes and shilling from SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk might have no idea of DOGE’s early days.
The Early Days
Developed by software engineers Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus in December 2013, DOGE’s protocol followed the Luckycoin and Litecoin (LTC) proof-of-work algorithm utilizing Scrypt technology.
Everything began on Christmas day, 2013, when Dogewallet said that its webpage had been compromised. The compromise resulted in users sending funds to the hacker’s address. The almost $12,000 worth of users’ coins lost in the saga was fully reimbursed by Dogecoin Foundation Board Member Ben Doernberg. This reimbursement included community-funded donations.
How many times has it been heard that altcoins or startups focusing on social network micropayments using crypto? Inspired by the Bitcointip project that had been operating for more than a year, the Dogetipbot service launched. It enabled automatic DOGE tipping on Twitch, Reddit, and Twitter.
Unfortunately, Dogetipbot’s creator withdrew all the funds in 2015, which resulted in the service’s bankruptcy in May 2017.
Sponsorships And Exit Scams
Compounding Dogecoin’s unorthodox origins, there is the ‘Wolong’ tale. Wolong is an active pseudonym on Reddit and IRC trading groups back then. By taking advantage of the Jamaican’s bobsled team sponsorship announcement, the trader managed to coordinate whales to pump DOGE by 600% in January 2014.
A well-documented piece attributed to this trader circulates on the internet, describing every move behind these coordinated pump efforts. Interestingly, the mentioned public and private discussion groups are quite similar to the recent r/SatoshiBets actions behind the more recent 2021’s Dogecoin 980% pump.
Finally, in October 2014, the Moolah altcoin exchange said that it was shutting down and filing for total bankruptcy protection. The announcement marked another strong price correction as seen in the market charts.
Among the investors that were victimized are Dan Wasyluk and his colleagues, who lost a total of 750 BTC. At the time, not many exchanges listed DOGE. Hence, Moolah did provide some critical infrastructure to the online community at the time.
To sum it up, Moolah’s founder “Alex Green,” managed the campaign for a NASCAR driver sponsorship, coupled with financing many Dogecoin meetups and Twitter promotions.
In the end, people discovered that “Alex Green” was an alias used by Ryan Kennedy. Ryan was sentenced to 11 years of jail time for many crimes, including rape. Despite the early days that were filled with multiple pump-and-dump exit scams, nonetheless, Dogecoin seems to have discovered its niche in the crypto scene and with a strong online community. For instance, the Reddit subforum has more than one million subscribers currently.
Hence, Dogecoin’s volatile beginnings might be forgotten. Nonetheless, DOGE certainly has a lengthy history of people using it to pump and dump their bags way before Elon Musk likely knew about his favorite meme-inspired crypto.
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