Dogecoin Co-Creator Disavows Crypto, Calls it ‘Inherently Right-Wing, Hyper-Capitalistic’

A Dogecoin co-founder denounced cryptocurrency on Wednesday, saying he would never again be involved with the “inherently right-wing” ecosystem he helped to build.

“I am often asked if I will ‘return to cryptocurrency’ or begin regularly sharing my thoughts on the topic again,” Jackson Palmer wrote in a thread on Twitter. He said the answer was a “wholehearted ‘no.'”

After years of studying it, I believe that cryptocurrency is an inherently right-wing, hyper-capitalistic technology built primarily to amplify the wealth of its proponents through a combination of tax avoidance, diminished regulatory oversight and artificially enforced scarcity.

— Jackson Palmer (@ummjackson) July 14, 2021

He cited the fact that some cryptocurrency applications lack a central authority — such as a bank — capable of recovering lost passwords, and said digital currency was “almost purpose built to make the funnel of profiteering more efficient for those at the top and less safeguarded for the vulnerable.

“After years of studying it, I believe that cryptocurrency is an inherently right-wing, hyper-capitalistic technology built primarily to amplify the wealth of its proponents through a combination of tax avoidance, diminished regulatory oversight and artificially enforced scarcity,” he added. “But these days even the most modest critique of cryptocurrency will draw smears from the powerful figures in control of the industry and the ire of retail investors.”

Palmer created Dogecoin with co-founder Billy Markus as a “joke” in 2013, but it has grown in popularity partially thanks to promotion this year by billionaires Elon Musk and Mark Cuban. Its value stood at a little more than $25 billion as of Wednesday, according to data-tracker Messari.

Despite Palmer’s remarks, Dogecoin was ironically responsible for minting at least some new millionaires this year, including 33-year-old Glauber Contessoto, who turned a $250,000 purchase of the currency into as much as $4 million as of May 7. (Contessoto said he wasn’t going to sell his holdings, making them worth a comparatively paltry $1 to $2 million as of July 14.)

Palmer expressed alarm over his currency’s valuation when it was worth $2 billion, writing in a 2018 article for Vice that he believed it meant something was “very wrong.” Cryptocurrency loyalists have generally returned the scorn, deriding Dogecoin as a “meme coin” with no technological purpose.

“Good-faith debate is near impossible,” Palmer lamented in his Wednesday commentary. “For these reasons, I simply no longer go out of my way to engage in public discussion regarding cryptocurrency. It doesn’t align with my politics or belief system, and I don’t have the energy to try and discuss that with those unwilling to engage in a grounded conversation.”