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You know how you create a cryptocurrency that immediately rivals Bitcoin with no effort? You fork Bitcoin and give it a cute mascot. Dogecoin has a $65 billio

You know how you create a cryptocurrency that immediately rivals Bitcoin with no effort? You fork Bitcoin and give it a cute mascot. Dogecoin has a $65 billion marketcap and was made in about two hours as a JOKE. It's totally open source, so there's nothing even illegal about it: https://twitter.com/BillyM2k/status/1393271686384914432/photo/1 https://twitter.com/BillyM2k/status/1393271686384914432/phot... I remember seeing Ethereum starting up and they had a demo where you could make your own cryptocurrency in about a page of code. I thought this shit is never going to work. I WAS SO WRONG. I am sure this cryptoqueen scammer put a ridiculous amount of effort into her scam when these people who actually made absurd amounts of money legally in altcoins did far less work.

KETpXDDzR 5y ago
AWS and until recently Azure have Blockchain-as-a-service. The real winner of a gold rush are the people selling pickaxes. https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/blockchain-service https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/blockchain-servic... https://aws.amazon.com/blockchain https://aws.amazon.com/blockchain
- 55555 5y ago
  > The real winner of a gold rush are the people selling pickaxes. No I'm pretty sure the people who hoarded gold (coins) have made more money from blockchain than IBM and AWS.
  - xondono 5y ago
    Nvidia is getting nice profits, and with way less risk than those “investing” in crypto
  - aplummer 5y ago
    You'd think so, but Pickaxe coins like the graph have significantly less gains than dog meme coins. I actually think a sure sign of when a coin won't go mega is when it tries to do something practical, since then its obvious its not that great a practical utility after all (as almost nothing is on a blockchain, except gambling).
  - KETpXDDzR 5y ago
    The only problem is that especially these ppl will probably not sell until it's too late.
- dehrmann 5y ago
  With cryptocurrencies, the pickaxes are GPUs and ASICs. I doubt this is a serious revenue generator for AWS because of how few things actually need and use blockchains. It's mostly there so consultants can sell blockchain solutions to companies desperate for a blockchain strategy.
  - hunter2_ 5y ago
    Out of whatever cases may exist for what you're describing (re: desperation, etc.), do they almost always involve someone getting conned?
- arambhashura 5y ago
  Microsoft is apparently shutting down its blockchain service, though: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/blockchain/service/migration-guide https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/blockchain/service/mi...
  - baobabKoodaa 5y ago
    So much for selling pickaxes...
- spaetzleesser 5y ago
  Don't tell my director! He always asks why we aren't using blockchain for our log files :-(
agumonkey 5y ago
a few semi pro traders i've seen made one for the lulz (with absurd names like karencoin) and the price rocketed (illiquid asset) which made them withdraw their trade from the market because they assumed it was a sign of dumb level bubble hit
- narrator 5y ago
  How about Losercoin? Two self-described broke losers in rural China created it and put their life savings into providing it with liquidity. It now has a 53 million dollar market cap.
  - alisonkisk 5y ago
    Isn't all this altcoin "market cap" stuff fake cap generated by bots that thinly trade new coins until a sucker buys them out?
    - parineum 5y ago
      To the extent that's true, it's true if all crypto.
      - mypalmike 5y ago
        Bitcoin, Ethereum, and some others are not thinly traded.
Waterluvian 5y ago
I think the difference is likelihood of success. If you and I did what you'd describe it would almost certainly not succeed. A high effort fraud has a much higher likelihood of returns.
trompetenaccoun 5y ago
She's not a programmer. As far as I know OneCoin never even had a blockchain, it was just a regular ponzi scheme they sold as cryptocurrency. Not the first time this happened and it won't be the last, sadly. I actually have a distant relative who bought into another such scam.
- bennysomething 5y ago
  It didn't have a block chain. There's a great BBc iPlayer podcast about it, crypto queen. Worth a listen. Apologies if this has already been mentioned.
  - djrogers 5y ago
    That detail is in the article, which is about the making of the podcast…
paulpauper 5y ago
fraud is profitable because it makes exaggerated claims. that is why people do it. legit projects are expensive and have high rate of failure doge is just one success out of probably thousands of others that tried similar concepts. Doge was able to gain a loyal following and community early on.
- grp000 5y ago
  Ironically, because of how ridiculous it was.
dleslie 5y ago
Dogecoin may as well be called Eloncoin, now; the value tracks his tweets about it. A practically-infinite cap and always-easy mining? It's designed to rapidly deflate in value. _That's the joke_. And yet it bubbles.
- eloff 5y ago
  Those properties mean it could actually work as a currency, unlike bitcoin. It also can handle higher transaction volume with cheaper fees. I don't think it'd be a good currency, but it's funny to compare it with bitcoin which was marketed as such but is totally a failure for that use case.
  - dleslie 5y ago
    No one wants negative rate savings accounts.
    - eloff 5y ago
      It's meant to be a currency not a savings account. It's not called cryptosavings - although perhaps it should be. Bitcoin is sort of like digital gold, but totally sucks as a currency or way of transacting. If it is inflationary like doge you have the incentive to spend it instead of hoard it.
      - dleslie 5y ago
        Huge segments of the population use a savings account as their primary method of saving money; they don't invest, at all.
- aplummer 5y ago
  ELON already exists, 630m market cap right now... https://www.dextools.io/app/uniswap/pair-explorer/0x7b73644935b8e68019ac6356c40661e1bc315860 https://www.dextools.io/app/uniswap/pair-explorer/0x7b736449...
- spinny 5y ago
gh55 5y ago
Just so you know, Dogecoin's blockchain is trivial to attack; its ledger can be altered at such low cost it is unlikely several such attacks aren't already underway. Upon publushing of new "longest chains" it will no longer be possible to determine which doge chain is valid, putting all balances in danger until the Proof of Work mechanism is replaced - which will only work briefly before the same problem recurs, due to the nature of how blockchains are secured. This will demonstrate why Bitcoin and Ethereum are valuable. More info: https://www.intuitecon.com/post/why-dogecoin-is-going-to-zero https://www.intuitecon.com/post/why-dogecoin-is-going-to-zer...
- Cicero22 5y ago
  Most of the other articles I saw when I googled "51% attack doge" said that this was unlikely, and that it had the 3rd most hashing power among crypto, mainly because of it being mined with litecoin. Saying it would be trivial to attack comes off as a hyperbole with that in mind. Litecoins 1 hour attack cost is $29,000, while Bitcoin's and Ethereums are $716,000 and $418,000 respectively, only a magnitude higher. Those articles also mentioned a lack of incentive due to sending the price to zero, but perhaps that's an incentive now since there are ways to short the price of a coin.
  - gh55 5y ago
    Yes, DOGE can be borrowed and then sold, to be repurchased later (at a possibly lower price); short positions can be opened. Plenty of DOGE is available for shorting. GPUs currently mining Ethereum can be used instead in a 51% attack against DOGE. No such pile of resources exists that can be redirected to attack Ethereum or Bitcoin.

KETpXDDzR 5y ago

AWS and until recently Azure have Blockchain-as-a-service. The real winner of a gold rush are the people selling pickaxes. https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/blockchain-service https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/blockchain-servic... https://aws.amazon.com/blockchain https://aws.amazon.com/blockchain

55555 5y ago
> The real winner of a gold rush are the people selling pickaxes. No I'm pretty sure the people who hoarded gold (coins) have made more money from blockchain than IBM and AWS.
- xondono 5y ago
  Nvidia is getting nice profits, and with way less risk than those “investing” in crypto
- aplummer 5y ago
  You'd think so, but Pickaxe coins like the graph have significantly less gains than dog meme coins. I actually think a sure sign of when a coin won't go mega is when it tries to do something practical, since then its obvious its not that great a practical utility after all (as almost nothing is on a blockchain, except gambling).
- KETpXDDzR 5y ago
  The only problem is that especially these ppl will probably not sell until it's too late.
dehrmann 5y ago
With cryptocurrencies, the pickaxes are GPUs and ASICs. I doubt this is a serious revenue generator for AWS because of how few things actually need and use blockchains. It's mostly there so consultants can sell blockchain solutions to companies desperate for a blockchain strategy.
- hunter2_ 5y ago
  Out of whatever cases may exist for what you're describing (re: desperation, etc.), do they almost always involve someone getting conned?
arambhashura 5y ago
Microsoft is apparently shutting down its blockchain service, though: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/blockchain/service/migration-guide https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/blockchain/service/mi...
- baobabKoodaa 5y ago
  So much for selling pickaxes...
spaetzleesser 5y ago
Don't tell my director! He always asks why we aren't using blockchain for our log files :-(

agumonkey 5y ago

a few semi pro traders i've seen made one for the lulz (with absurd names like karencoin) and the price rocketed (illiquid asset) which made them withdraw their trade from the market because they assumed it was a sign of dumb level bubble hit

narrator 5y ago
How about Losercoin? Two self-described broke losers in rural China created it and put their life savings into providing it with liquidity. It now has a 53 million dollar market cap.
- alisonkisk 5y ago
  Isn't all this altcoin "market cap" stuff fake cap generated by bots that thinly trade new coins until a sucker buys them out?
  - parineum 5y ago
    To the extent that's true, it's true if all crypto.
    - mypalmike 5y ago
      Bitcoin, Ethereum, and some others are not thinly traded.

Waterluvian 5y ago

I think the difference is likelihood of success. If you and I did what you'd describe it would almost certainly not succeed. A high effort fraud has a much higher likelihood of returns.

trompetenaccoun 5y ago

She's not a programmer. As far as I know OneCoin never even had a blockchain, it was just a regular ponzi scheme they sold as cryptocurrency. Not the first time this happened and it won't be the last, sadly. I actually have a distant relative who bought into another such scam.

bennysomething 5y ago
It didn't have a block chain. There's a great BBc iPlayer podcast about it, crypto queen. Worth a listen. Apologies if this has already been mentioned.
- djrogers 5y ago
  That detail is in the article, which is about the making of the podcast…

paulpauper 5y ago

fraud is profitable because it makes exaggerated claims. that is why people do it. legit projects are expensive and have high rate of failure doge is just one success out of probably thousands of others that tried similar concepts. Doge was able to gain a loyal following and community early on.

grp000 5y ago
Ironically, because of how ridiculous it was.

dleslie 5y ago

Dogecoin may as well be called Eloncoin, now; the value tracks his tweets about it. A practically-infinite cap and always-easy mining? It's designed to rapidly deflate in value. _That's the joke_. And yet it bubbles.

eloff 5y ago
Those properties mean it could actually work as a currency, unlike bitcoin. It also can handle higher transaction volume with cheaper fees. I don't think it'd be a good currency, but it's funny to compare it with bitcoin which was marketed as such but is totally a failure for that use case.
- dleslie 5y ago
  No one wants negative rate savings accounts.
  - eloff 5y ago
    It's meant to be a currency not a savings account. It's not called cryptosavings - although perhaps it should be. Bitcoin is sort of like digital gold, but totally sucks as a currency or way of transacting. If it is inflationary like doge you have the incentive to spend it instead of hoard it.
    - dleslie 5y ago
      Huge segments of the population use a savings account as their primary method of saving money; they don't invest, at all.
aplummer 5y ago
ELON already exists, 630m market cap right now... https://www.dextools.io/app/uniswap/pair-explorer/0x7b73644935b8e68019ac6356c40661e1bc315860 https://www.dextools.io/app/uniswap/pair-explorer/0x7b736449...
spinny 5y ago

gh55 5y ago

Just so you know, Dogecoin's blockchain is trivial to attack; its ledger can be altered at such low cost it is unlikely several such attacks aren't already underway. Upon publushing of new "longest chains" it will no longer be possible to determine which doge chain is valid, putting all balances in danger until the Proof of Work mechanism is replaced - which will only work briefly before the same problem recurs, due to the nature of how blockchains are secured. This will demonstrate why Bitcoin and Ethereum are valuable. More info: https://www.intuitecon.com/post/why-dogecoin-is-going-to-zero https://www.intuitecon.com/post/why-dogecoin-is-going-to-zer...

Cicero22 5y ago
Most of the other articles I saw when I googled "51% attack doge" said that this was unlikely, and that it had the 3rd most hashing power among crypto, mainly because of it being mined with litecoin. Saying it would be trivial to attack comes off as a hyperbole with that in mind. Litecoins 1 hour attack cost is $29,000, while Bitcoin's and Ethereums are $716,000 and $418,000 respectively, only a magnitude higher. Those articles also mentioned a lack of incentive due to sending the price to zero, but perhaps that's an incentive now since there are ways to short the price of a coin.
- gh55 5y ago
  Yes, DOGE can be borrowed and then sold, to be repurchased later (at a possibly lower price); short positions can be opened. Plenty of DOGE is available for shorting. GPUs currently mining Ethereum can be used instead in a 51% attack against DOGE. No such pile of resources exists that can be redirected to attack Ethereum or Bitcoin.