Dogecoin vs Bitcoin: What Is The Difference?

Dogecoin and bitcoin are two of the most talked-about cryptocurrencies, but what separates them?

As one of the first cryptocurrencies, bitcoin has been around longer than Dogecoin - an altcoin also described as a 'memecoin'.

Let's take a look at the differences between these two titans of the cryptocurrency market.

What is the difference between Bitcoin and Dogecoin?

There are various distinguishing features of both bitcoin and Dogecoin, especially when it comes to circulating currency.

There are currently over 18.7m BTC in circulation compared to over 130.2 bn DOGE, as of June 2021. Dogecoin does not have a supply cap, whereas bitcoin is capped at 21m BTC.

In terms of newly minted coins, Dogecoin has a consistent reward of 10,000 DOGE per block, which translates to 5bn DOGE minted each year. In comparison, due to bitcoin halving, the block reward of BTC mining will halve every 210,00 blocks. The reward is currently at 6.25 BTC, and will halve to 3.125 BTC per block in 2024.

Finally, Dogecoin was originally created as a joke cryptocurrency designed to mock bitcoin and the speculation surrounding cryptocurrency. This places Dogecoin in the category of altcoins - cryptocurrencies that spawned after the initial rise of bitcoin.

Dogecoin vs Bitcoin price

As of June 2021, the price of bitcoin is $34,950.95, and the price of Dogecoin is $0.2596 (via CoinMarketCap). Bitcoin hit a high of $64,863.10 in April 2021, while Dogecoin's highest price was $0.7376, a record set the following month.

In terms of market cap, bitcoin has a market cap of over $658bn. Dogecoin's market cap is $33.9bn.

Dogecoin vs Bitcoin energy consumption

When considering the environmental impact of Dogecoin and bitcoin, it appears that bitcoin requires a significantly higher amount of energy per transaction than its DOGE counterpart.

According to data from TRG, each Dogecoin transaction uses 0.12 kWh of energy, compared to 707kWh required for a bitcoin transaction.

However, Leafscore highlights that Dogecoin's energy consumption may actually be higher. Due to fears over security, Dogecoin switched from a Proof-of-Work algorithm (PoW) to an Auxillary Proof-of-Work algorithm for its transactions.

AuxPoW algorithms allow for 'piggybacking', in which DOGE is mined alongside other cryptocurrencies, which could further complicate the energy consumption calculations of Dogecoin.

READ MORE: How much Dogecoin does Elon Musk own?

[Featured Photo by Executium on Unsplash]