Dogecoin Creator Calls Out Mark Cuban for Running a Crypto Grift

Dogecoin co-creator Jackson Palmer is back with more harsh words for the crypto industry, community, and its influencers. This time, he’s after Mark Cuban.

The Adobe engineer accused the investor of running a “grift” by trying to claim a stake in the “extractive, grifty system of cryptocurrency.”

Drinking the Crypto Kool-Aid

In an interview with Business Insider, Palmer said that he thinks Cuban has “drunk the Kool-Aid” surrounding crypto and NFTs. 

“Mark Cuban isn’t getting paid as a celebrity to promote this stuff,” he explained. “He actually has kind of been indoctrinated into believing that these things are the future.”

Palmer was one of two designers behind Dogecoin – a top 15 cryptocurrency that’s gained relative popularity among the general public, and the fervent adoration of Elon Musk.

Ironically, he and his co-creator Billy Markus originally designed the coin as a mockery of the speculative irrationality that permeates crypto investing. While Markus has still welcomed the crypto community with a more lighthearted attitude towards the space, Palmer has upheld outright hatred towards it for years. 

“Back in 2013 — or even when crypto was first coming out in 2008 — there was a portion of it that was actually a response to Wall Street and the overarching capitalist system,” Palmer said. Since then, the creator “quickly realized” that crypto’s biggest voices simply wanted to create a newly exploitative system, placing themselves at the top. 

Alongside Cuban, Palmer includes Marc Andreesen and Chris Dixon in that group. The billionaire and investor respectively are general partners at Andreesen Horowitz – one of the most deeply involved venture capital firms in the crypto industry. Interestingly, Block Head Jack Dorsey has made similar implications about Marc Andreesen being part of a “grift”. 

Neither Andreesen nor Dixon responded to Insider’s request for comment. Cuban, however, said Palmer’s statements weren’t anything new. “Sounds like the same thing that has been said about every new technology I’ve been involved in,” he said. 

Elon Musk Fires Back

Palmer targeted Elon Musk with similar criticisms in May, claiming he was a “grifter” who was trying to destroy Twitter. He also claimed that Musk doesn’t understand how to run basic code. 

Musk replied to Palmer’s comments the following day, calling the co-creator a “tool” who himself had the “coding skills of a child.” The billionaire is on better terms with Markus, however, whom he regularly shares memes with over Twitter.