To recap, Dogecoin was launched in 2013 by Billy Marcus and Jackson Palmer as a mock response to Bitcoin’s rise in popularity at the time. Over the years, DOGE has experienced several waves of growth, but the most widespread publicity came in 2021, when it was unexpectedly promoted on Twitter by billionaire Elon Musk.

As a result, DOGE was one of the best investments of 2021, along with Solana (SOL) and Terra (LUNA). Read more about this ranking - as well as the most unsuccessful investments - in a separate article.

Elon Musk and Dogecoin

That said, the project itself has been in the spotlight of the blockchain community quite actively of late. For example, in the second half of December it became known that Dogecoin representatives are collaborating with the creator of Etherium, Vitalik Buterin. Their goal is to launch a DOGE stack that would allow anyone to increase the amount of coins.

What’s going on with Dogecoin?

Let’s start with the most interesting – Marcus has exactly 220 thousand DOGE, or approximately $41,800 at the current altcoin exchange rate. The developer himself definitely has nothing to do with the development of the project at the moment. Here is his quote about it, published by Decrypt.

Let me remind you once again: I am not speaking on behalf of the Dogecoin project. I am not involved in its development and I am an ordinary member of its community. I have 220 thousand DOGE. I will actively defend the views of those who in my opinion are trying to make the industry better. I will oppose those who are trying to achieve opposing goals.

Accordingly, at the moment the developer does not associate himself with the project. And clearly has no plans to do so in the future.

Doge meme.

Marcus’ brainchild, unfortunately, will never be developed again from its creator’s pitch. He continues.

I will never go back to developing Dogecoin. Working on a crypto project is horrible. I’ve learned that the more you do for people, the worse they treat you.


Note that Marcus' colleague under the surname Palmer has also experienced episodes of dislike for cryptocurrencies and the blockchain community. In July this year, he declared that digital assets could be described as "the worst part of the modern capitalist system", and that the coins themselves were allegedly only needed to make early investors richer.

As a reminder, the most popular members of the community did not appreciate such statements and shared their own vision of what was happening. For example, head of Coinbase exchange Brian Armstrong called crypto a breath of fresh air for people who are tired of government decisions. You can read more of his views here.


Dogecoin creator Billy Marcus


In the end, it all came down to the fact that Dogecoin's creator considers himself an ordinary member of the cryptocurrency community and in addition doesn't want to go back to developing the project because he thinks the experience was terrible. It is likely that such statements will not be good for cryptocurrency, although Marcus has clearly separated himself from it in this case. Accordingly, his example might only influence other developers who have not yet had time to get involved with large-scale projects. However, they will also have the opportunity to refute Billy's negative attitude in practice.