Jackson Palmer, the co-creator of the Dogecoin cryptocurrency, has released a series of Tweets that heavily criticize cryptocurrencies. Originally envisioned as a way to create a currency that does not depend on any state or a particular issuer, cryptocurrencies have quickly become powerful investment tools controlled by a cartel of wealthy capitalists, he said.
Dogecoin was originally established as a joke by Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, software engineers from IBM and Adobe in late 2013. Unlike Bitcoin, Dogecoin relied on scrypt technology in its proof-of-work algorithm, which meant it would need different dedicated ASICs or FPGAs for mining. But even though Dogecoin was never meant to be a commercial project as big as Bitcoin, it gained widespread recognition in early 2014 due to its meme nature. In early 2021, Dogecoin got another boost because it got attention from Elon Musk, Snoop Dogg, and Gene Simmons.
All-in-all, today Dogecoin is a popular cryptocurrency used to keep savings and earn speculative profits. Apparently, this is what seems to bother one of the Dogecoin co-founders.
"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," said Palmer in a tweet. "Despite claims of 'decentralization,' the cryptocurrency industry is controlled by a powerful cartel of wealthy figures who, with time, have evolved to incorporate many of the same institutions tied to the existing centralized financial system they supposedly set out to replace."
A decade ago, cryptocurrencies were used primarily by high-tech geeks for select transactions. Today, they can be purchased by unqualified investors to keep their savings (or lose them). Owners of crypto exchanges sometimes run away with their investors' money, whereas government agencies plan to tax cryptocurrency trading. Adoption by the masses transforms almost any technology in many ways. It can be used by wider audiences, which means losing some benefits, gaining some additional risks (e.g., manipulation by high-volume traders or people with influence), but mitigating other risks.
Cryptocurrencies are transforming in a big way, so they will inevitably lose some supporters while gaining others. It looks like this is exactly what is happening to Dogecoin.
