How It Works
Dogecoin is a fork of Litecoin (which is itself a fork of Bitcoin), using the Scrypt PoW algorithm instead of SHA-256. This allows DOGE to be merge-mined simultaneously with Litecoin, sharing hash rate and security. Unlike Bitcoin, DOGE has no hard supply cap — 5 billion new DOGE are issued annually, creating permanent ~4% annual inflation that gradually decreases as a percentage of total supply. Blocks are produced every ~1 minute. The protocol has received minimal development updates since 2015, though discussions around adding smart contracts (DogeVM) and Layer 2 solutions have gained traction.
Consensus Mechanism: Proof of Work
Proof of Work consensus requires miners to expend computational energy to propose new blocks. The miner who finds a valid block hash first broadcasts it to the network and earns the block reward. This creates an objective, energy-backed security model where attacking the network costs real-world resources.
Key Architecture Facts
| Category | Meme Coin |
| Consensus | Proof of Work |
| Launched | 2013 |
| Founder | Billy Markus & Jackson Palmer |