Dogecoin is Starting To Be Seen as a Viable Alternative to Bitcoin

Dogecoin (^DOGEUSD) is a major meme cryptocurrency coin. It is slowly gaining acceptance as a good form of payment, including recently at both AMC Entertainment (AMC) and Tesla (TSLA). In fact, some now see it as a more viable alternative to Bitcoin (^BTCUSD) given its low transaction costs and fast processing.

 In the long run, this could help push Dogecoin higher.

For example, recently a well-known Bitcoin supporter gave an interview with Bloomberg expressing his support of Dogecoin. On April 28  the founder of Blockchain.com, Roger Ver - who is also known as "Bitcoin Jesus" for his fervent crypto advocacy - told Bloomberg that he is now a fan of Dogecoin, Elon Musk’s favorite cryptocurrency. 

Here is the essence of his argument. He says that it's faster, more reliable, and cheaper to use than Bitcoin. For example, according to UsetheBitcoin.com, Dogecoin fees are close to $0.01 while Bitcoin fees are usually between $0.50 and $1. Hence, it is cheaper and faster to send a Dogecoin transaction than a Bitcoin one. 

Moreover, Dogecoin is quicker. Bitcoin processes transactions every close to ten minutes. This means blocks get confirmed, on average, every ten minutes. But Dogecoin takes just one minute. However, to be fair, Bitcoin has a more difficult hashrate than Dogecoin. This makes it more secure as it is harder for hackers to gain control of the blockchain as a result.

Where This Leaves Dogecoin Now

Elon Musk is one of Dogecoin's greatest supporters. His recently announced acquisition of Twitter (TWTR) could raise its importance and heighten its importance in the cryptocurrency market. For example, recently The Bitcoinist magazine wrote that Musk's $54 billion offer for Twitter implies that Dogecoin could gain more than every other digital asset.

For example, since Monday, April 25, Dogecoin has run up from 12.5 cents to over 13.11 as of May 1, after spiking to over 16.3 cents during the week. Another benefit is that Musk will now be in charge of the leading platform where his adulation of Dogecoin has occurred in the past. Now Musk will be unfettered in standing behind the cryptocurrency. Moreover, it might not be a stretch to allow both users and advertisers to make payments to Twitter using Dogecoin. That could make Dogecoin a very viable alternative to Bitcoin.

As it stands, Dogecoin is now the 12th largest cryptocurrency, according to Coinmarketcap.com. As such, it has a market value of over 17.3 billion. This is less than one-third of the $53 billion of Twitter's takeover offer market cap. 

This leaves Dogecoin plenty of room to grow, should it ever rise to the same value, now that Musk is backing both of them. In fact, even if it rose to a third of that value Dogecoin would breach $1.00 per DOGE token. That puts it over its all-time high of just over 68 cents a year ago.