I'm not sure to what extent doge was ever really a parody, even if it was started as a lark then marketed as zany and relatable. And for a number of years it's been shepherded by a small group of devs who seem to be competent and diligent, and exceptionally up-front and down-to-earth by cryptocurrency standards. (Disclaimer: I know one of them personally. Additional disclaimer: this isn't anything resembling financial advice.) I don't know much about cryptocurrencies, but afaik doge's fairly low transaction fees and continued strong commitment to be inflationary may also justify some of the interest.

https://www.reddit.com/r/dogecoin/comments/7oxi53/developer_...

> I feel some are using our rise to illustrate the absurdity of cryptocurrency pricing (http://uk.businessinsider.com/dogecoin-cryptocurrency-has-ma... for example). To me, in an environment where a cryptoasset with $30 USD equivalent transaction fees has a market cap of over a quarter of trillion dollars, I don't think we're the absurd one. Yes we take ourselves less seriously, but that doesn't mean we're not serious behind the scenes. We're a 4 year old currency with transaction fees barely over a cent and significantly higher throughput than most other cryptocurrencies.

EDIT: Ross has asked me to point out the continuing development at https://github.com/dogecoin/dogecoin/pulls . Version 1.14 is apparently on its way.

Goatse cryptocurrency.

Oi, check the PRs before declaring development stopped :P https://github.com/dogecoin/dogecoin/pulls

Strangling? No. That's like saying Amazon's success is strangling retailers.