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Billy Markus is the co-founder of Dogecoin. He is from Portland, Oregon, and created Dogecoin with Jackson Palmer from Sydney, Australia, in 2018. Dogecoin, or DOGE, is inspired by the popular “doge” Internet meme, which has been the center of Facebook, Twitter, 9GAG, and Reddit’s meme content. Dogecoin features a Shiba Inu on its logo. The aim of Dogecoin creators was to create a fun, light-hearted cryptocurrency and their target was an audience beyond Bitcoin. Tesla CEO Elon Musk is often seen supporting Dogecoin; he even declared it his favourite coin. In fact, he is also credited for the huge popularity of the meme coin.
Recently, Musk, in a tweet addressed to the iconic fast-food brand, McDonald’s, said, “I will eat a happy meal on tv if @McDonalds accepts Dogecoin“.
After it came, Billy’s hilarious retweet, saying, “I will eat a happy meal watching Elon Musk eat a happy meal on tv if @McDonalds accepts Dogecoin.”
Markus Created Dogecoin In Two Hours
But, only a few know that Billy, before getting into Dogecoin, created another meme-coin called Bellscoin. Markus shares this quite exciting story in an interview. Just like in general, Billy got into cryptocurrency through Bitcoin. Billy first started mining Bitcoin, and he shares it was also pretty impossible to mine. It took a week or more to mine Bitcoin, which, compared to today, is a lot. At the time, Bitcoin’s price was just a dollar. He recalls his room used to get quite hot because of the graphic card. Then, he gets to know about altcoins and how they can even be mined with a regular computer graphics card. Besides, there were also rumours at the time that these coins were going to be big and were the future of the finance industry. Billy took his chance.
Billy experimented with different coins. He mined and traded many coins and was really intrigued. Then, it clicked to him that since there are so many coins available, it wouldn’t be quite hard to make one. Interestingly, Billy even found a FAQ online titled, “How to clone a script coin and make your own coin”. Markus decided to make one, although he was pretty sure it was just like a weekend project.
Markus was sure that he didn’t want to create anything serious and looked for something fun. Funnily enough, Markus was really obsessed with the Nintendo Co game “Animal Crossing” at the time, and he created a cryptocurrency with animal crossing, Bell’s. No one took it seriously and laughed it off. Billy dropped the idea of making cryptocurrencies, or as he says, “I decided I’ll retire from making cryptocurrencies that was a bad idea”. Destiny clearly had different plans.
Later, Billy shares that he was attending some IRC chat rooms and someone linked it to dogecoin.com, and he found it quite funny and went to the site. He got to know that Jackson, who lives in Australia, has created a dogecoin.com. He made it just a joke, and it was
not an actual coin. However, Jackson left a message at the bottom of the site, “to make this a real thing contact me”. And Markus did exactly that, he said he finds this hilarious and wants to make this coin. Jackson didn’t answer him since he was in Australia at that time. Billy created the coin the same night in just a few hours. Later, he got to talk to Jackson, and the coin was released a few days later.
Markus is no longer developing any coin as of now; he is still the CEO of Dogecoin and manages its daily processes in the market. Today Dogecoin is the 13th leading cryptocurrency in the market, according to the data from Coinmarketcap.
Did Billy Markus Consider Energy Usage While Creating Dogecoin?
In May 2021, a user asked Markus if he considered energy usage while creating Dogecoin. Initially, Markus, who is on Twitter with the username Shibetoshi Nakamoto, reacted to the tweet with a crying face emoji.
Later, he clarified that with the emoji, he meant, “aw man, you right, environment stuff.” Another user under the tweet asked @TerrysFishyTips, did he consider or not energy usage while creating the meme-coin” Or was that not something you thought about? How can the dev community make doge more efficient?”
He replied, saying he had created Dogecoin in “like two hours and didn’t consider anything.”
“If I can go back in time, I wouldn’t sell it in 2015”: Billy Markus On Selling Dogecoin.
Earlier, Billy said something like if the Dogecoin parameters were perfect in an interview. But when asked in an interview what he would do differently if he could go back in time while creating Dogecoin. Billy acknowledges that everything that has happened is because of everything we did, their choices and the community-made together. Therefore, he wouldn’t want to change anything. But, one thing he personally would change if he could is that he wouldn’t sell it in 2015.
There was this rumour, almost a myth, that Markus sold his Dogecoin and bought a Honda Civic. Billy dismissed this on a show, saying, “I didn’t buy a Honda Civic.”
Also Read: Dogecoin on Robinhood Stock: A positive yield generator for the exchange?
Billy Markus’s View On NFT
It might be unbelievable for some, but the dogecoin founder had the same reaction as many others when he first learned about NFTs. “This is dumb,” he recalls saying.
However, later Markus realized the value in creating NFTs. He created some joke NFTs and, interestingly enough, was able to make some extra income. He was dumbfounded as he said, “There’s apparently demand for things I make.”
The demand was definitely high since Markus was able to help his mom pay her house payment and still survive comfortably. Although, something that really made Markus was his decision to sell his cryptocurrency before it rose in value and see his mom struggle.
At the moment, Markus is only present on Twitter. He is quite private about his personal life and doesn’t share much on his account. However, he continues to post all things related to crypto.
Nancy J. Allen is a crypto enthusiast, with a major in macroeconomics and minor in business statistics. She believes that cryptocurrencies inspire people to be their own banks, and step aside from traditional monetary exchange systems. She is also intrigued by blockchain technology and its functioning. She frequently researches, and posts content on the top altcoins, their theoretical working principles and technical price predictions.
