As of Monday, May 10, the canine-themed virtual coin was trading at just below 50 cents.

So what exactly is Dogecoin?

How do you even pronounce it?

A dog smiles against a yellow backdrop.

Can you actually buy anything with it?

If you and your dog arent sure what to think, read on.

How Does Dogecoin Work?

Article image

8 Questions Answered

1.

Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency created by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer in 2013.

Like other cryptocurrencies, it runs on blockchain technology, which is basically a giant public record of transactions.

Article image

Both ended their involvement with Dogecoin in 2015.

Why am I suddenly hearing about it?

No Interest Til Almost 2027?

How do you pronounce it?

Whats the point of #DogeDay?

For most of the cryptocurrencys history, theyve been worth about half a cent.

#DogeDay was mostly a bust.

The cryptocurrency started out trading at 42 cents on April 20.

It ended the day at 33 cents.

Did you know?

Is there a limit on the supply of Dogecoins?

Thats an important distinction between Dogecoin and Bitcoin.

Bitcoins creators capped the amount of coins that can be mined at 21 million.

Proponents of Bitcoin argue that the limited supply makes the cryptocurrency an effective store of value.

But no such limit exists with Dogecoin.

But Dogecoin is much easier to mine compared to Bitcoin.

Millions of Dogecoins are mined every day.

Currently, more than 129 billion Dogecoins are in circulation.

What can I buy with Dogecoin?

Reportedly, the Mavericks have generated $122,000 worth of merchandise revenue through Dogecoin sales.

But overall, usage is pretty limited.

Whats the total value of Dogecoins?

As of Monday, May 10, about $66 billion.

Should I invest in Dogecoin?

If you want to put a few extra bucks into Dogecoin just for fun, thats your call.

If Dogecoin buys you entertainment, great.

But only investif you might afford to lose.

Robin Hartill is a certified financial planner and a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder.

She writes the Dear Penny personal finance advice column.

Send your tricky money questions to[email protected].

(Can you sense my millennial sarcasm there?)

You know which ones were talking about: rent, utilities, cell phone bill, insurance, groceries…