Image retrieved from: “Dogecoin Hack Reminds Us of the Dark Side of Crypto” on cryptorandgroup.com

Disclaimer: this is an opinion article. It is also the opinion of someone who is fairly new to crypto. If there are any factual inaccuracies, please let me know. 

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I’ve only started investing within the last month, and I’m incredibly happy to be a part of this community. Before you ask… yes, it was Doge that brought me into the realm of crypto. A couple of coworkers took a tip from a friend that they should buy a little bit of the memecoin, and I decided to do the same. I am not a whale - nowhere near it. But I threw a couple of hundred dollars at Doge to see what would happen. Ultimately, I sold with a pretty small profit. But the value of Doge for me was not the extra bit of cash in my wallet; it was an interest in the crypto community, which resulted in a lot of research... and a few small investments.

I don’t want to talk about what coins I invested in or which exchanges or wallet I use (at least in this piece of writing). Instead, I want to take a look at the utility of Doge, and other coins like it, not as a direct means of “going to the moon,” but as a way to draw in more crypto investors. There is no doubt that some coins will directly bring people wealth, but there are many coins that won’t. In my short time reading up on a large variety of cryptocurrencies, I have seen two prevailing types of investors: investors with diversified portfolios who are looking for long-term financial stability and investors with FOMO who will try hop on board the latest trend in hopes of a quick buck. Investors in the former camp often look at a lot of novelty crypto as pointless (see the term “shitcoins” or “fadcoins”), and I have seen some disdain for the folks who are looking for a quick market pump, followed by an immediate sell. I’ve seen a large number of Tweets and posts to crypto subreddits reminding everyone that Doge may help to make people a quick buck, but that it does not have long-term utility, and is a fad not worth spending much time worrying about. I recognize that this is not everyone, but I have seen enough dismissive comments about Doge to know that there is, and can be, a negative stigma surrounding the coin, and other cryptos like it.

That said, I think we need to be as supportive as possible of anyone choosing to explore crypto, including the “shitcoins,” the “memecoins,” and any other novelty cryptos, provided that they are safe and secure. The more that we build the crypto community, the more we all benefit.

How did Doge bring me here?

As someone new to the cryptosphere, Doge had a lot of appeal to me. 

Most importantly, it has name recognition. Granted, I initially recognized it as a meme from Reddit, but I had heard of it. Additionally, I knew that Elon Musk liked to bring up the coin from time to time. I won’t be discussing anything else Elon-related here… after last week’s SNL and Tesla/Bitcoin antics, that could be its own article. But because Doge was known in a variety of contexts, it felt “safe” to me. This is an important feature for people who may be skeptical of investing in crypto for the first time.

Additionally, Dogecoin was still relatively cheap, despite it’s large growth over the last year. It felt like a coin I could purchase without regret. As most people who invest in anything, crypto or otherwise, will tell you: only invest what you are willing to lose. Doge was cheap enough that I could put some money in within breaking the bank, but still feel like I owned a fair amount of the coin. Yes, you can technically use Fiat currency to purchase any amount of a coin, but it just sounds cooler to say “I own 100 Doge” instead of “I own .00000541 Bitcoin” (numbers made up to make a point). Because I bought in at around $0.40, I felt like I was getting something for my money. 

I shamelessly chose Doge because it was popular, because I thought I’d get a quick return, and because it was affordable. But I think we need more coins like Doge out on the market… err, exchange.

Opening the Gates

Let’s face it - investing in anything can be really daunting to a newcomer, but I think cryptocurrencies are even more intimidating to jump into. Coins spring up and disappear quickly. More stable coins (though not necessarily stablecoins) are often expensive and making a significant profit feels unattainable, even if that’s not always the case. We need new crypto investors to have a “way in.” Because, as stated before, the more people we have in crypto, the more the entire community benefits.

I think that the crypto community needs to start fully embracing those coins that bring popularity to cryptocurrencies, even if the coin itself is not one that die-hard crypto investors take seriously. If a coin gains recognition and will help bring people in to learn and ultimately invest in crypto, I would consider this a net gain for the whole community. I think we need to change the narrative and adopt a positive attitude toward new crypto investors. A lot of coins gain notoriety with the non-crypto crowd because they are humorous. Instead of looking at the sometimes ridiculous seeming coins in a negative light, I think we should be treating them as “gatewaycoins” or “gatecoins” to attract potential long-term investors. 

While writing this, I came across the Cummies coin, which has recently been experiencing some notable growth, although where it is as you’re reading this I don’t know. My first thought when I heard about Cummies was that it is a pointless memecoin. But my second thought was, wasn’t Doge as well? Meme or not, Cummies could be the way that someone begins to foster a true investment in crypto. If Cummies is someone’s gatecoin, I say we hold the gates wide open.