2021 Was The Year Of Dogecoin: A Month By Month Retrospective With Top Stories

One of the biggest storylines for cryptocurrency in 2021 was the rise of Dogecoin DOGE/USD. Benzinga took a look back at the popular meme coin to see what the top storylines were for Dogecoin in each month in 2021.

January

Start Price: $0.0047

End Price: $0.0349

High Price: $0.0779

Dogecoin started 2021 trading under $0.01 per coin. The memecoin quickly gained attention from the Reddit community r/SatoshiStreetBets who wanted to see a pump in the cryptocurrency similar to a move that stocks such as GameStop Corp. GME and AMC Entertainment Holdings AMC saw in January.

Another event in January that sent the price of Dogecoin higher was a tweet voicing support of the coin by Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk. This of course would become a major trend in 2021 with Musk mentioning the coin on many occasions and the coin reacting to each tweet.

By the end of January, Dogecoin had overtaken Bitcoin BTC/USD as the most-mentioned cryptocurrency on Twitter Inc TWTR. And to cap January off, the star of Netflix Inc NFLX hit series “Tiger King,” Carole Baskin, pumped Dogecoin thanks to the purchase of a Cameo by a fan of the crypto.

February

Start price: $0.0370

End Price: $0.0480

High Price: $0.0849

Dogecoin continued to gain momentum in the month of February, led again by Musk favorably mentioning the meme cryptocurrency, calling it the “people’s crypto.”

One of the most viewed articles on Benzinga in February about Dogecoin was the common question of “How to Pronounce Dogecoin?” and it became one of the most searched pronunciations on Alphabet Inc GOOGGOOGL unit Google in 2021.

The rise of Dogecoin’s valuation in February also prompted coin co-founder Billy Markus to address the rise of the coin in an open letter he posted on Reddit. 

“I’m half detached, but it’s weird that something I made in a few hours is now part of internet culture,” Markus told Bloomberg. Markus also said it was amusing to see Musk talk about Dogecoin. 

March

Start Price: $0.0480

End Price: $0.0536

High Price: $0.0606

Along with Musk, one of the most vocal public figures supporting Dogecoin in 2021 was Dallas Mavericks owner and entrepreneur Mark Cuban. Throughout the year, Cuban supported the idea of owning a small portion of Dogecoin and backed the idea of the cryptocurrency going to $1. Cuban also revealed in March that the Mavericks would begin accepting Dogecoin as a payment option for tickets and merchandise.

Also in sports news, a race car driven by Stefan Parsons featured Dogecoin on the hood of the car.

April

Start Price: $0.0536

End Price: $0.3929

High Price: $0.4377

Musk tweeted in support of Dogecoin on April 1, saying that SpaceX “is going to put a literal Dogecoin on the literal moon.” While some saw it as an April Fool’s Day joke, the tweet continued a trend of Musk tweeting and sending the cryptocurrency higher.

Conagra Brands Inc CAG shouted out Dogecoin on its earnings call, marking a first for the meme crypto. The mention came as the company’s Slim Jim brand used Doge memes to boost its social media following.

The most-read article on Benzinga for 2021 was published in the month of April and centered on a hypothetical investment in Dogecoin. The April 15 article showed how much a $1,000 investment in Dogecoin on Jan. 1, 2021 would be worth now.

Mark Cuban updated the world on how many people were using Dogecoin to buy tickets and merchandise from the Mavericks. The team owner said over $122,000 in merchandise was purchased with Dogecoin, up 550% from the previous month. Cuban also revealed he had purchased “a few dollars worth” of Dogecoin for his 11-year-old son in February.

With increased demand from customers for Dogecoin, Webull CEO Anthony Denier revealed exclusively with Benzinga that the trading platform would be adding Dogecoin.

“Webull Crypto has been and is currently testing Dogecoin,” Denier said. The CEO added that Dogecoin was the most requested cryptocurrency to add to the platform by users “far and away.”

Doge Day took place on April 20, 2021. The cryptocurrency didn’t hit the $1 price target that many in the community had hoped for on the unofficial holiday for Dogecoin. The coin did trend and saw many stories on the day, boosting the social reach of the coin even further.

One of the biggest Dogecoin stories in 2021 was the appearance of Musk on “Saturday Night Live” in May. Musk tweeted on April 28 “The Dogefather SNL May 8,” which sent the coin higher on speculation he would mention the coin during his hosting appearance.

See Also: How To Buy Dogecoin 

May

Start Price: $0.3375

End Price: $0.3258

High Price: $0.7375

Dogecoin surged higher in May ahead of Musk’s appearance on “Saturday Night Live,” which aired live on Comcast Corporation CMCSA unit NBC on May 8. Musk told the world Dogecoin would be featured during his appearance.

Trading platform eToro announced the addition of Dogecoin as one of several cryptocurrencies offered to users to buy, sell and hold.

Musk mentioned Dogecoin several times during his appearance on “Saturday Night Live.” The coin traded higher before his appearance and then began falling during and after the hosting gig.

Cryptocurrency platform Coinbase Global Inc COIN announced plans to add Dogecoin as a tradeable cryptocurrency in a timeframe of six to eight weeks.

June

Start Price: $0.3257

End Price: $0.2542

High Price: $0.4445

Coinbase added Dogecoin to its platform in June with Coinbase Pro users getting access on June 3.

Dogecoin community members got their first look at Dogepalooza, an event featuring entertainment, music and more for fans of the cryptocurrency. The talk of Dogepalooza caught the attention of Musk who said the event “sounds kinda fun.”

Dogecoin co-founder Billy Markus announced his “resignation” as the CEO of Dogecoin, a label he received by a publication. Markus announced meme creator Greg as the new CEO of Dogecoin and Musk the Chief Meme Overlord.

The original Doge meme, which was the image used for Dogecoin, sold in an auction for 1,696.9 Ethereum ETH/USD, or around $4.06 million. Pleasrdao was announced as the winner of the meme sold as an NFT.

Markus also made headlines in June when he disclosed that he purchased 2,500 Dogecoin, his first purchase of the meme coin since 2013. This came after Markus vowed never to buy crypto again back in 2013.

July

Start Price: $0.2538

End Price: $0.2083

High Price: $0.2600

Robinhood Markets Inc HOOD filed its prospectus to go public via IPO. The filing unveiled that cryptocurrency represented 17% of total first-quarter revenue. Dogecoin represented 34% of cryptocurrency transaction revenue in the first quarter compared to 4% in the fourth quarter of 2020. Dogecoin was listed as a risk factor from the company with the risk of lower demand for the meme crypto hurting the potential outlook for Robinhood.

The team behind Dogepalooza revealed with Benzinga that its first annual event would be held at Constellation Field in Sugar Land, Texas on Sat., Oct. 9, 2021. The event would later be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

August

Start Price: $0.2077

End Price: $0.2944

High Price: $0.3509

Mark Cuban revealed on Twitter that he owns $494 worth of Dogecoin. The dollar figure represents around 1,470 Dogecoins owned by Cuban.

Cuban also used Dogecoin as a promotion for the Mavericks called Dogemania. The promotion gave a free $25 e-gift card to anyone who used Dogecoin to spend more than $150 at the Mavericks online store.

September

Start Price: $0.2780

End Price: $0.2042

High Price: $0.3197

Pleasrdao announced the fractionalization of the Doge meme in September, which led to the overall value of the NFT skyrocketing.

AMC Entertainment CEO Adam Aron took to Twitter to ask the community if the movie theatre chain should accept Dogecoin for ticket purchases. The question came after AMC announced it would accept Bitcoin as payment for tickets and concessions purchased online.

October

Start Price: $0.2044

End Price: $0.2802

High Price: $0.3388

The trend of major retailers accepting Dogecoin continued in October with youth-focused fashion retailer Pacsun announcing the ability for customers to use Dogecoin and other cryptocurrencies for purchases via BitPay.

AMC announced in October it would allow customers to purchase gift cards using Dogecoin using a BitPay Wallet. The news was well received by the Dogecoin community and showed retailers continuing to accept the cryptocurrency as a payment option.

November

Start Price: $0.2801

End Price: $0.2147

High Price: $0.2896

The Dogecoin fake management team got a boost in November with Markus announcing Greg’s run as the fake CEO had come to an end. Musk campaigned for his pet dog Floki to be named the new CEO. The dog featured on the Dogecoin meme, Kabosu, was announced as the new fake CEO of Dogecoin. Floki received the title of President of Dogecoin.

Major restaurant chain Burger King, a unit of Restaurant Brands International Inc QSR, announced a partnership with Robinhood to give away cryptocurrencies, including Dogecoin. Purchases of $5 or more had the chance to win Dogecoin, Ethereum or Bitcoin.

Kabosu, the dog that was the basis of Dogecoin, celebrated its 16th birthday on Nov. 2, 2021. The dog was saved from getting put down thanks to being rescued at an animal shelter by a Japanese kindergarten teacher.

December

Start Price: $0.2144

End Price: TBD

High Price: $0.2230

Dogecoin got a slight lift in early December thanks to a tweet from Musk saying “Dooooge” on Twitter in response to a story about Ethereum.

Dogecoin celebrated its eighth birthday on Dec. 6, 2021. The coin was created by Markus and Jackson Palmer.

An analysis of Google Trends data from Alphabet Inc. showed Dogecoin was the most searched for cryptocurrency in 23 of the 50 states. Bitcoin ranked second as the top search in 10 states and Ethereum ranked third as the top search in eight states.

Dogepalooza announced its new 2022 date with Benzinga in December. It will now be held at the original location, Constellation Field in Sugar Land, Texas, on April 23, 2022. Ticket prices for the 2022 event were also cut.

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

Photo: Executium via Unsplash