Many Shibes and Much Talk at San Francisco Dogecoin Conference 2014

A dogecoin-themed conference held 25th April 2014, brought hundreds to hear from leaders in the altcoin industry

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Crypto history

A cryptocurrency is a digital currency designed to work through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. Despite their name they are generally viewed as a distinct asset class for legal and business reasons

Bitcoin is indisputably the most popular coin, but blockchains were invented a generation earlier, a University of California at Berkeley (Go Bears!) doctoral candidate named David Chaum outlined a blockchain database in his dissertation, “Computer Systems Established, Maintained, and Trusted by Mutually Suspicious Groups.” 27 years before Bitcoin. DigiCash launched in 1989 and declared bankruptcy in 1998

In 2008, someone, or a group, known as Satoshi Nakamoto issued a white-paper describing the protocol, along with a working implementation of the Bitcoin currency. On January 2009, the first block, also known as the genesis block, was mined, which is considered to be the birthday of Bitcoin

Dogecoin was created by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, as a payment system to make fun of the wild speculation in cryptocurrencies at the time. Despite its satirical nature, some consider it a legitimate investment prospect

Dogecoin was forked from Litecoin, meaning miners are compatible, and merged mining is possible

Dogecon

Being a real crypto currency, created by real people, and supported by real business people, we had to have a conference

The event, Dogecon SF, was held in the auditorium space at Automattic, the company behind the popular WordPress platform. The conference, organized by Follow the Coin, filled the hall, which was built for a capacity of 350.

During Palmer’s keynote he said that over $150,000 had been transmitted via dogetipbot, the software that allows reddit users to tip each other dogecoin, helping the altcoin become a tipping mechanism in reddit comments and messages

At the time more than $100,000 in dogecoin has been raised for various charity efforts, most notably for a NASCAR driver that will compete at Talladega Motor Speedway in a doge-themed car

One doge equals one doge

It was clear that Dogecon SF, with its free food and beer, carried more of a party-like atmosphere than most cryptocurrency events. It had a photo booth, carnival games and giveaways.

Sponsors such as Expresscoin gave away rocket popsicles as a token of doge’s ‘to the moon’ slogan that refers to its quick success. A few people wore costumes, and one attendee even brought a Shiba Inu dog, a real-life version of dogecoin’s cartoon mascot.

With no charge for attendance and plenty of sponsored party supplies, Dogecon SF was considered a success by many attendees

[Youtube: Jackson Palmer at Dogecon]

[Youtube: Mad Bitcoin goes to Dogecon 2014]

[Daniel Cawrey for CoinDesk - Published Apr 26, 2014, 4:20 am]