Dog-themed cryptocurrency Dogecoin is marking its 12th anniversary, having launched Dec. 6, 2013, by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer. It is considered both the first "meme coin" and, more specifically, the first "dog coin."

The Shiba Inu is a Japanese breed of dog that was popularized as an online meme and represents Dogecoin.

In a tweet, Dogecoin co-founder Billy Markus, who goes by the alias of Shibetoshi Nakamoto on X, celebrates Dogecoin's 12th anniversary and in his usual witty manner, playfully saying how it all started.

"12 years ago i made something stupid and then a bunch of even stupider stuff happened and now i am posting about it on the internet to 2.15 million followers, happy 12th genesis day, Dogecoin," Markus wrote in a playful tweet, referring to his followers on X.

12 years ago i made something stupid and then a bunch of even stupider stuff happened and now i am posting about it on the internet to 2.15 million followers

happy 12th genesis day, dogecoin pic.twitter.com/6UblHLUB5R

Seemingly, Markus was oblivious of the number of his X followers, which has surpassed 2.2 million, while correcting himself in another tweet: "oh, 2.26 million followers  apologies to the 110k i initially missed you are all special to."

Originally created as a joke, Dogecoin has gained traction in the crypto space and ranks as the ninth largest cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of $22.56 billion, trading at $0.1396 at press time.

How it all started

Dogecoin co-founder Jackson Palmer, who at the time was a member of the Adobe marketing department in Sydney, Australia, bought the domain Dogecoin.com and added a splash screen, which featured the coin's logo and scattered Comic Sans text.

Billy Markus reached out to Palmer after seeing the site and started efforts to develop the currency. Markus designed Dogecoin's protocol based on existing cryptocurrencies Luckycoin and Litecoin, which use scrypt technology in their proof-of-work algorithm.

The Japanese Shiba Inu Kabosu is behind the "doge" meme and the face of the Dogecoin cryptocurrency. In 2010, two years after adopting Kabosu from a puppy mill where she would otherwise have been put down, Sato, a teacher from Sakura, east of Tokyo, took a picture of her pet crossing her paws on the sofa. Afterward, variations of the pictures using overlaid Comic Sans text were posted from a Tumblr blog Shiba Confessions.

The Japanese Shiba Inu, which inspired a generation of online jokes, passed away in May 2024 after 14 years of internet fame.

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