See More

Dogecoin vs. Bitcoin: An Ultimate Comparison

10 mins
Updated by Maria Petrova
Join our Trading Community on Telegram

A comparison of Dogecoin and Bitcoin may seem a little odd from certain vantage points. After all, Bitcoin, the world’s first cryptocurrency, started off with the mission to challenge the existing global financial order. Its foundational objective was to use the power of decentralization to help free the world economy from the clasp of the disproportionately powerful legacy banking system. Dogecoin, on the other hand, is a meme-themed coin that started off as a deliberate joke.

That said, Dogecoin has long outgrown its “just-another-meme-coin” status to emerge as a cryptocurrency with serious potential, as highlighted time and again by many, including Elon Musk. Besides, it has been financially rewarding for investors, just as Bitcoin has been. So, a comparison between the two on both the technical and economic fronts would be all but normal.

What is Bitcoin (BTC)?

what is bitcoin

Before we get any further in the Dogecoin vs. Bitcoin comparison, let’s first quickly skim through what both these assets are all about.

As you may already know, Bitcoin (BTC) was created in 2009 by an elusive creator who goes by the pseudonym, Satoshi Nakamoto. To this date, nobody seems to know who the person or group behind that pseudonym is — although there are speculations and even misleading claims that could give you secondhand embarrassment.

At its core, Bitcoin is built on a pretty simple concept. It is a decentralized digital money or asset that can be sent or received peer-to-peer (p2p) over the internet. And by “decentralized,” we mean it is independent of any third party, including even central banks and governments. 

Bitcoin is nothing like anything that came before, including even digital payment services such as PayPal or Venmo, which still depend on the legacy financial infrastructure for facilitating transactions. Its key properties can be surmised along the following points.

Key characteristics of Bitcoin

  • Each transaction involving BTC is recorded and tracked on the Bitcoin blockchain.
  • A blockchain is similar to a bank’s ledger, i.e., a comprehensive log of customers’ funds, where it is coming in from and going out, etc. The Bitcoin blockchain also records every translation ever made using BTC. The only difference is that a blockchain is digital and decentralized, which means it is distributed across the entire network and all participants in the network are collectively in control of it (rather than any single company, government, or entity). That makes it practically immune from any effort to rig, manipulate, or assume total control over the network.
  • Because Bitcoin is decentralized, any two people, regardless of their whereabouts, can send BTC to one another directly without involving a bank or other financial institutions.
  • Bitcoin’s total supply is capped at 21 million, which makes it an inherently deflationary asset. 
  • You do not necessarily have to buy an entire bitcoin to add the asset to your portfolio. You can buy just a fraction of one.

What is Dogecoin (DOGE)?

Available on:

Doge

Dogecoin was launched in 2013 as a joke by software developers Billy Marcus and Jackson Palmer. They were online buddies from Reddit, but had never met each other in person. 

Marcus and Palmer combined two of the most popular online trends in 2013 — the still new but ascendant cryptocurrency Bitcoin and the popular “Doge” meme featuring a Shiba Inu. However, to their surprise, DOGE became almost an instant hit among a good chunk of crypto enthusiasts and investors from all over the world. 

In fact, it took the meme-themed coin’s website (www.dogecoin.com) less than a month to score its first 1 million hits. Despite its beginning as a joke, DOGE is a full-fledged cryptocurrency with its own blockchain and mining system.

A big part of DOGE’s initial success can be attributed to a very active Reddit community. The Dogecoin subreddit was teeming with subscribers who would send DOGE back and forth to keep the transaction volume up. They would also share and exchange information on DOGE, while encouraging fellow crypto enthusiasts to join the DOGE community.

Also, for the vast majority of the coin’s existence, DOGE was priced at just a fraction of the penny. The relatively low price of the coin, coupled with its abundance, also helped fuel adoption. 

What gives DOGE value?

The value of all assets — digital or conventional — is determined by market dynamics. DOGE is not an exception to that reality, and its value is inherently based on supply and demand.

However, unlike Bitcoin, which is by design a deflationary asset due to its limited supply, DOGE has no such hard cap. Therefore, its demand has to be constantly on the up for it to sustain (and grow) its value. While the DOGE price has been historically stuck at a fraction of a penny, a real breakthrough came in early 2021 when the price jumped around 7,000%.

Dogecoin price
DOGE/USDT Chart by TradingView

What was even more striking is that retail investors alone caused that massive spike after the world’s richest person, Elon Musk, started showering praises on Dogecoin (sometimes at the expense of Bitcoin). 

/Related

More Articles

And now that we have the basics out of the way, let’s quickly delve into the similarities between the two coins.

Similarities between Dogecoin and Bitcoin

DOGE
DOGE Evolution Meme

The initial development of Dogecoin was based on a lot of copied source code from the core chunks of Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Lucky Coin. 

To put things into perspective, Dogecoin is a Lucky Coin fork, which is a fork of Litecoin, which in turn, is a Bitcoin fork. So, you could say that Dogecoin’s source code has copious similarities with that of Bitcoin. On that count, both these cryptocurrencies have a lot in common.

Both these coins use the proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism. Simply put, PoW is a form of validating transactions, adding new blocks of transactions to the blockchain, and mining new coins. The word “work” in PoW refers to the task of generating a hash (or a long string of characters) that matches the target hash for the current block. The miner who first finds this hash earns the right to add that block to the blockchain and earn block rewards. 

Both Bitcoin and Dogecoin have two primary use cases — to transact value, and to serve as a store of value. In other words, you could use both to make payments for goods and services at crypto-friendly merchants that accept BTC and DOGE. Alternatively, you could also invest in them and hold them over time in the hope of making profits as their respective values go up.

The major differences between Dogecoin and Bitcoin

Dogecoin vs. Bitcoin

The key differences between the two coins include:

Dogecoin vs. Bitcoin: Purpose of both coins

As already mentioned earlier, the foundational objectives of both assets were kind of the polar opposite. While Bitcoin aspired to make a real-world impact by making the global financial order fair, transparent, inclusive, and more democratic, Dogecoin at launch was just a joke/fun project.

No doubt, DOGE has evolved since and is now ranked among the top cryptocurrencies by popularity and market cap. However, due to the nature of its origin, it still has some serious distance to traverse before being as “mainstream” as, say, Bitcoin or Ethereum. For example, going by the numbers, the vast majority of institutional investors would still prefer investing in Bitcoin rather than investing in a meme coin like DOGE.

Dogecoin vs. Bitcoin: Market capitalization

At this point, it is not even a contest. Bitcoin is way ahead of DOGE in terms of market cap

As of Oct. 25, 2022, BTC has a market cap of about $387 billion, which is about 450x higher than the $8.5 billion (approx) market cap of DOGE.

The gap between the two was even larger for most of DOGE’s history — especially prior to the early 2021 boom, when it started hitting one high after another. Before that, DOGE had not even touched the $1 billion mark. 

That said, DOGE being the smaller of the two, has more room for growth, and it is possible that the gap between the two would become smaller over time. 

Dogecoin vs. Bitcoin: Transaction time

Transaction time is one aspect where DOGE far outshines BTC. The average transaction processing time in the Dogecoin network hovers somewhere around 1 minute. In comparison, the average transaction time facilitated by the Bitcoin network can be as high as 10 minutes, although it can sometimes stretch up to an hour or even more. 

Also, being a lot more popular than its counterpart, the Bitcoin network sees a lot more traffic and therefore, is prone to frequent network congestion.

Dogecoin vs. Bitcoin: Supply

Dogecoin vs. Bitcoin

The supply-demand dynamics of the two coins are also as much different as their market cap or transaction times.

Bitcoin is a fundamental deflationary asset, which means its supply decreases over time. With a progressively lowering supply, the asset’s demand should theoretically grow, which then paves the way for a spike in its price. 

There will only ever be a total of 21 million BTC in existence, of which around 19.1 million are only in circulation. The supply of new BTC (block rewards) reduces by 50% every four years via an “event” known as “halving.” More on that in a bit.

Meanwhile, DOGE follows an inflationary monetary policy due to its (theoretically) infinite supply. 

Dogecoin vs. Bitcoin: Halving

A Bitcoin halving event occurs every four years, following which the reward for mining BTC reduces by half. The whole point of halving is to reduce the fresh supply of coins in a phased manner until the last ever BTC to enter circulation is mined in 2140.

The last halving took place on May 11, 2020, after which the block rewards came down to 6.25 BTC (from 12.5 BTC). The previous halvings took place in 2016 and 2012, each of which was followed by a sharp spike in BTC price. 

In contrast, the Dogecoin blockchain stopped halving long ago. As a result, miners still earn 10,000 DOGE per block and will continue to earn just as much perpetually. 

For more details, refer to BeInCrypto’s detailed guide on Bitcoin halving.

Dogecoin vs. Bitcoin: Encryption

The proof-of-work consensus mechanism in the Bitcoin network follows the SHA-256 standard. For those out of the loop, the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) created the SHA-256 standard in 2001. It has since been counted among the most advanced encryption method.

Dogecoin, meanwhile, utilizes the Scrypt hash method — the same encryption standard you will find in the Litecoin network. While Scrypt is not as state-of-the-art as SHA-256, it compensates for that shortcoming by making mining more accessible to the average user.

This is why mining Dogecoin is a lot easier and less expensive than mining Bitcoin. 

Dogecoin vs. Bitcoin: Security 

Security

Prior to joining the big leagues of the crypto space, Dogecoin had a relatively quiet period during which development came to almost a standstill. In fact, it had a grand total of zero (0) developer updates between 2015 and 2020.

However, by 2022, the DOGE community started seeing a lot more development activities. As a result, updates are now coming a lot more regularly than ever before. Despite sharing a lot of Bitcoin’s codebase, the security in the Dogecoin network is not quite as tight as that in Bitcoin.

For perspective, the Dogecoin blockchain has a hashrate of 540 TeraHash per second (TH/s) — that’s 540 trillion hashes per second. The corresponding figure for the Bitcoin blockchain, meanwhile, is a whopping 238 ExaHash per second (EX/s) or 238 quintillion hashes.

This is crucial because the stark difference between the hash rates in both networks means it is comparatively a lot easier to carry out a 51% attack on Dogecoin. 

For those out of the loop, a 51% attack refers to a scenario wherein a single user or entity takes control of the blockchain network by owning the majority of its hashing power. At that point, the attacker becomes the de-facto controller of the network.

Comparison in a nutshell

 BitcoinDogecoin
Created in20082013
Market Capitalization (as of Oct. 25, 2022)$387 billion (approx.)$8.5 billion (approx.)
Coins in Circulation (as of Oct. 25, 2022)19.18 million (approx.)132.6 billion (approx)
Ranking (by market cap)110
Price (as of Oct. 25, 2022)Around $20,200 (approx.)$0.0666 (approx.)
Maximum Coin Supply21 millionNo limit
Halving period 4 yearsN/A
Block rewards6.25 BTC (Till 2024)10,000 DOGE
Average Transaction Time10 mins (approx.) 1 min (approx.)
Transaction Fee Range (Sept. 2021-Feb. 2022)$1.25 to $5.00$0.10 to $1.75
Encryption standardSHA-256Scrypt
Hash rate238 Ex/s540 TH/s
Known asDigital goldMeme coin
Dogecoin vs. Bitcoin: A comparison

Dogecoin or Bitcoin: Which is a better investment?

As you have seen, both DOGE and BTC have their fair share of advantages and disadvantages. While DOGE costs you far less transaction time and fee, Bitcoin offers superior security and has a more reliable track record as an investment vehicle.

As things stand today, in Oct. 2022, both these cryptocurrencies have serious potential for growth. For example, a recent analysis suggested that the DOGE price could surge by 800% by 2025. Similar long-term bullish predictions about BTC are also plentiful.

All said, it goes without saying that you should not form your investment strategies based solely on these predictions. Both these cryptocurrencies have a history of high volatility, and you should do your own research before investing in either. 

Frequently asked questions

Which is better Bitcoin or Dogecoin?

Is Dogecoin safer than Bitcoin?

Is Dogecoin more efficient than Bitcoin?

Is Dogecoin and Bitcoin the same thing?

Top crypto platforms in the US | March 2024
Coinbase Coinbase Explore →
AlgosOne AlgosOne Explore →
Chain GPT Chain GPT Explore →
iTrustCapital iTrustCapital Explore →

Trusted

Disclaimer

In line with the Trust Project guidelines, the educational content on this website is offered in good faith and for general information purposes only. BeInCrypto prioritizes providing high-quality information, taking the time to research and create informative content for readers. While partners may reward the company with commissions for placements in articles, these commissions do not influence the unbiased, honest, and helpful content creation process. Any action taken by the reader based on this information is strictly at their own risk. Please note that our Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy, and Disclaimers have been updated.

Shilpa-Lama.jpg
Shilpa Lama
Shilpa is a freelance tech writer and journalist who is deeply passionate about artificial intelligence and pro-freedom technologies such as distributed ledgers and cryptocurrencies. She has been covering the blockchain industry since 2017. Before her ongoing stint in tech media, Shilpa was lending her skills to government-backed fintech endeavors in Bahrain and a leading US-based non-profit dedicated to supporting open-source software projects. In her current role, she focuses on...
READ FULL BIO
Sponsored
Sponsored