Dogecoin raises $30,000 for Jamaican bobsleigh team
In the ultimate Internet fairytale, the founders of the meme-based crypto-currency have helped send a two-man bobsleigh team to Sochi 2014.
Such rhythm! So rhyme! Wow -- it's bobsled time. In the ultimate Internet fairytale, the founders of amusing meme-based crypto-currency Dogecoin have raised nearly enough money for a two-man bobsleigh team from Jamaica to go to the Winter Olympics.
After the story of Winston Watts and Marvin Dixon qualifying for Sochi 2014 went viral online -- thanks to the Internet's collective nostalgia for 1993's "Cool Runnings" -- it became clear Jamaica's first trip to the Winter Games since 2002 might founder for want of funds.
"We need about $40,000 for travel and also to buy new runners for the sled because we can't go to an Olympics with only one set," Watts told the BBC.
The Dogecoin Foundation, founders of the shiba-inu fronted online currency, quickly started Dogesled.net, a tip jar for the Caribbean ice racers. It had all the ingredients for a whirlwind of virality -- a funny pet-related meme, bitcoin, nostalgia, money-raising, and lovable '80s funny man John Candy.