Many Shibes and Much Talk at San Francisco Dogecoin Conference

A dogecoin-themed conference held yesterday in San Francisco brought together hundreds of attendees to hear leaders from the altcoin industry, and to just have a good time.

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.

Jackson Palmer, the creator of dogecoin, told CoinDesk that over 900 people registered for the event, which was free but encouraged donations.

Palmer, who led the keynote session, told the audience:

“It’s been 138 days since dogecoin was launched. That’s crazy.”

Doge’s astonishing acceptance

That hundreds of people that were present at Dogecon SF, an event that was planned in just a few weeks, is evidence that the altcoin has a ever-growing backing.

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.

Palmer also pointed out that 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.

“It’s weird, being treated [generously] and [kindly] on the internet,” Palmer quipped.

One doge equals one doge

Dogecoin’s success as an alternative cryptocurrency hasn’t been because of speculative buying and holding of the coin, Palmer told the audience:

“The viability of a digital currency shouldn’t be tied to a dollar amount.”

He discussed the idea that one doge should be thought of as one doge, and that constantly thinking about what a coin is worth in fiat is not going to increase its adoption. “You shouldn’t wake up and worry about what bitcoin is worth in US dollars,” he said.

But other than dogetipbot, there aren’t many other ways to spend doge yet. “We need to build demand for people who want to pay for things in dogecoin,” Palmer added.

Charlie Lee and merged mining

A fireside chat with Palmer and litecoin creator Charlie Lee was one highlight of the event's speaking sessions. It was the litecoin source code that Palmer and co-founder Billy Markus used to create doge.

Recently, Lee took to reddit for a proposal to merge dogecoin and litecoin mining to better protect both coins, an idea that Palmer has disagreed with. The panel primarily consisted of a healthy debate on that subject.

Lee said: “Dogecoin has what I consider a problem with the mining algorithm. I see the hashrate dropping by a lot if the price doesn’t support it."

Jackson believes that if miners are getting dogecoin and litecoin mining rewards that they will simply sell dogecoin, which he sees as a problem. He admitted:

“I really want to come up with an innovative solution. But I don’t have a solution right now.”

Socializing

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.

Andreas Antonopoulos

also spoke at the event, summarising dogecoin's out-of-the-blue triumph and its subsequent ability to gather a strong community:

“Value is not derived from who created it, but who is using it. A currency with a funny dog has value. And that is because you think it has value.”

Images via CoinDesk