The cryptocurrency market has boomed into 2021 stronger than ever: the price of Bitcoin is setting record after record, interest in Ethereum is through the roof and the DeFi industry continues to grow. 

And altcoins also show no sign of slowing down—namely the OG “meme coin,” Dogecoin (DOGE). The price of DOGE was $0.011 at the time of writing, a 121% increase in 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data. 

The coin, which was created as a joke but now has a market cap of $1.3 billion, surged in value in 2020 with other altcoins. This time last year, before crypto-mania gripped the world, the coin was worth just $0.00204887. 

Its price is now up 441%. 

Why the coin is up so much is anyone’s guess. But the coin has been in the limelight a lot in the past year: Elon Musk said it was his favorite cryptocurrency (sending the price up) and a viral TikTok video also encouraged people to invest. 

And the coin does have some uses—albeit criminal ones. Last year, hackers started using the cryptocurrency to control Monero-mining malware. 

DOGE was created by developers Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus in 2013 to poke fun at Bitcoin. 

But the currency has since become popular—much to its creators’ surprise—and is now available on major exchanges. It comfortably sits in the top 30 cryptocurrencies in terms of market cap.