Benzinga's Top 5 Articles For 2021 — Or 'Who Let The Dog Out?'

2021 may have been the Year of the Ox in the Chinese calendar, but for Benzinga, it was the Year of the Dog, or should we say, Year of the Dogecoin DOGE/USD.

The memecoin created in 2013 by Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer has finally shed its "joke" origins — Markus and Palmer founded it to make fun of cryptocurrency, in particular, Bitcoin BTC/USD — with DOGE (its nickname and ticker symbol) coming into its own this year. And Benzinga and its Zinger Nation noticed.

Here are the Top 5 articles for 2021 — yes, they are all Dogecoin articles, but which ones caught readers' attention? Read on.

1. "If You Invested $1,000 In Dogecoin On Jan. 1, 2021, Here's How Much You'd Have Now," by Chris Katje, published April 15

This one has almost come full circle as New Year's Eve approaches, and the time to start the $1,000 cycle anew.

When the article was published, DOGE was part of April's overall cryptocurrency surge, some say due to crypto exchange Coinbase Global Inc COIN going public on April 14.

The catch? At the time, DOGE wasn't listed on the exchange. (It would have to wait until June.)

That said, on April 16, DOGE reached a new high of $0.45, up 400% that week. So, $1,000 invested in DOGE from Jan. 1 to April 15 was worth a lot more … and counting.

2. "If You Invested $1,000 In Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin And Other Cryptos 5 Years Ago, Here's How Much You'd Have Now," by Wayne Duggan, published April 16

While a lot of people invested in cryptocurrency for the first time in 2021, for those who were early proponents, $1,000 in these cryptos, particularly DOGE, turned into a nice profit, or as some may say, "life-changing" profit.

3. "What Will It Take For Dogecoin To Hit $1? Jeff Bezos Backing And Less Than 24 Hours, Says YouTuber," by Madhukumar Warrier, published April 23

While billionaire Tesla Inc TSLA founder and CEO Elon Musk may be a proponent of Dogecoin, Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN co-founder and ex-CEO — and billionaire — Jeff Bezos has yet to jump aboard. Not saying he isn't a fan of dogs or memecoins, but it looks like Bezos is now focusing on girlfriend Lauren Sanchez and his Blue Origin space missions, competing with yet another fellow billionaire, Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc SPCE.

4. "If You Invested $100 When Elon Musk First Tweeted About Dogecoin, Here's How Much You'd Have Now," by Chris Katje, published May 8

Elon Musk is a fan of Twitter Inc TWTR and his tweets can often move the market — or at least stir up a little controversy. But if you were paying attention to his tweet on April 2, 2019, you would have made some money. Even if you only invested $100.

5. "Will Dogecoin Reach $1 by 2022?" by Henry Khederian, April 17

Benzinga surveyed its readers to find out if they thought Dogecoin would hit $1 by 2022. What did the Zinger Nation prognosticate? Well, we can say this, as of Dec. 29, the memecoin is priced at $0.1725 and heading down. Could DOGE be in the doghouse?

What are the next 5? Here are the headlines and links to check them out:

6. "Dogecoin Headed To 5 Cents After Losing Crucial Support And Even Elon Musk Can't Save It, Says Bitcoin Bull," by Shivdeep Dhaliwal, published June 2

7. "$1,000 Dogecoin Investment On Jan. 1, Could Buy You A Tesla Model S — But Holding This Crypto Would Have Gotten You 4," by Shivdeep Dhaliwal, April 19

8. "Will Litecoin or Dogecoin Grow More by 2022?" by Henry Khedarian, published May 1

9. "Doge Days Over? Cryptocurrency Sees Major Correction," by Adrian Zmudzinski, published April 22

10. "Will Ethereum or Dogecoin Grow More By 2022?" by Henry Khederian, published April 19

Photo: Dogeloverforever via Wiki Commons