The co-founder of the meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin (DOGE), Billy Markus, warned venture investors about startups that speculate on cryptocurrency and AI to raise funds.
dear VCs,
let me help you out, for when you hear tech startup pitches:
— if they mention ai, it’s something chatgpt will do in a few months
— if they mention crypto, it’s retarded
— Shibetoshi Nakamoto (@BillyM2k) December 18, 2023
“If [new projects] mention artificial intelligence, then ChatGPT will do this in a few months. If they mention cryptocurrency — that’s stupidity,” he said.
Despite the recent rebound in venture funding for cryptocurrencies, Markus says the industry is ‘blinded by greed’ and ‘lacks understanding’.
In his view, only 0.02% of market participants ‘care about anything other than making money’, and the industry itself is ‘full of fraud, scams and corruption’.
In November, the volume of venture funding received by cryptocurrency companies grew by 179% compared with October — from $430 million to $1.2 billion.
Marcus’s message appeared after the community discovered his abandoned Bells project, launched eight days before Dogecoin.
Before Dogecoin, its founder — @BillyM2k — had another project.
A coin and its blockchain abandoned since 2014.
Until now ?⤵️ pic.twitter.com/8mHthKvWO6
— Adam McBride (@adamamcbride) December 13, 2023
Enthusiasts have already relaunched the project and begun mining BEL tokens. Major companies have even joined the effort.
“Within a few hours after the relaunch, farms using powerful ASIC miners began to dominate BEL mining. This means that your chances of receiving a reward on your computer are virtually zero,” noted Adam McBride.
In light of the hype surrounding it, the DOGE developer noted that insiders and early participants reap far greater benefits than everyone else.
as is every crypto in history, insiders and early adopters benefit far beyond everyone else, and also as everything is in crypto history, my name gets used for clout while i barely benefit ?
— Shibetoshi Nakamoto (@BillyM2k) December 18, 2023
“Dogecoin was successful largely because it was released honestly. But in today’s crypto world this no longer matters, as greed blinds everyone, and almost the entire industry does not understand the fundamentals,” he added.
Earlier, the community debated with the founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, who criticised Bitcoin’s viability due to the risk of losing funds.
In April 2022, Marcus urged the creation of a cross-chain bridge between the Dogecoin and Ethereum blockchains.
Later, the developer supported billionaire Mark Cuban’s idea to use DOGE to combat spam on X.