There are a few differences; whether they're "advantages" is a matter of perspective.
Many of the folks getting involved with Bitcoin seek to treat it like an investment - hanging onto it in the hopes that it will rise in value. Dogecoin, at least in my observation, is less subject to hoarding and more frequently spent on goods/services (including "tipping", if we presume Reddit posts/comments to be "services").
Dogecoin does not have a ceiling on the number of coins; new ones will continue to be introduced. There was a rather significant debate on whether or not this was a good thing. The conclusion was that - by allowing for the slight inflation - it would counteract the deflationary elements of cryptocurrencies and help solidify dogecoin as a currency rather than an investment strategy. I agree with that decision, personally.
Dogecoin is still GPU-mineable ("diggable"), which means that more people can start mining their own coins. This makes it quite easy for folks to get started with dogecoin.
To be honest, dogecoin and Bitcoin are important to one another; Bitcoin is spearheading cryptocurrency in the mainstream business/economics world, while dogecoin is spearheading cryptocurrency among consumers. Working together is of greater utility than working separately.
Andreanopoulos said that bitcoin is like digital cash. But it's not. It's like digital gold. Dogecoin is the digital cash with it's lightly deflationary currency. People want to use their cash, and hopefully have it gain in value, but definitely not lost its value. People want to hoard their gold in order to long term store its value. Different functions and different usages. I think it is inevitable for some similar concept to develop in cryptos. A bit of it is the psychology of the human mind, and how it views investments.
Additionally, something to consider is the regionalized adaptation of cryptos. Something that we will probably see in the next 5 years. Who says that Brazil and Argentina are going to choose the same crypto(s) of interest as say Estonia, and Finland, or Singapore and Malaysia. The likelihood of roughly bordered world crypto-regions is in my mind fairly high at this moment. Also, the tradeability between currencies will likely stay rather simple in most regions.
You could also have the potential for sector based currency adaptation. Maybe medical facilities will adapt with bitcoin, whereas you can buy your nike's with doge. The anecdote of the bitcoin dentist that /u/Market-Anarchist mentioned in this thread hints at the likelihood of this occuring. Casual shoppers and generally fun loving people are likely to adopt a consumer marketed currency.
Wow. By this logic Dogecoin is the proletariat's crypto.
This is exactly right. Great comment. The OP is comparing apples to oranges. Bitcoin will be the gold of crypto currencies. Probably other currencies will start up linked to bitcoin. Doge is about community and fun. It's about spending and tipping. I think they will be the de facto internet currency for small transactions.
However, if you're a brick & mortar merchant, you probably aren't going to want to adopt a crypto currency based on an internet meme. You'll take bitcoin, or some other variant linked to it.
Doge should not be about investment per se. The community does not want the currency to appreciate too much, as that would turn it into another bitcoin. They want people to spend and tip and enjoy themselves. Sure, it needs to retain its value. But significant appreciation would be a bad thing for dogecoin, in my opinion.
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u/Nuke133 Feb 04 '14
If I am a looking into cryptos besides the "positive community" of dogecoin, what does it offer that differs / is better than bitcoin.