Dogecoin's co-creator now owns just $40,000 of the meme token -- and says he has nothing to do with it anymore

Dogecoin cryptocurrency coin and a graph are pictured in Kyiv on 08 July, 2021. — STR/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Billy Markus, the co-creator of dogecoin, revealed he owns around 220,000 of the token.
His holdings translate to about $40,000, based on Tuesday's price.
In June, Markus broke his vow of never owning any crypto by buying dogecoin.
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Dogecoin co-creator Billy Markus revealed he owns around 220,000 of the meme cryptocurrency, which translates to about $40,000 based on Tuesday's price.

He also reiterated that he has nothing to do with the coin anymore -- despite constantly tweeting about it.

"Yet another reminder: I don't speak for dogecoin," Markus tweeted to his nearly one million followers Sunday. "I am not on the project. I am a community member. I hold about 220k doge."

In a follow-up tweet in response to a comment, he maintained he will "never" work on the token again.

"I never will. Working on a crypto project is terrible as I have actually found the more you do for people, the more entitled they get and worse they treat you," Markus said. "I respect the developers a lot for volunteering to do so for all these years."

He created dogecoin in 2013 with Jackson Palmer. In February, Markus said he sold all his coins in 2015 after getting laid off and ended up buying a used Honda Civic.

But in June, he announced he is buying some dogecoin, breaking a promise he made to himself.

"I bought dogecoin after 8 years of vowing never to buy crypto again," he tweeted. "I have checked the price 7 times so far since then."

Dogecoin, the most searched crypto in Google this year, peaked at an all-time high of $0.69 on May 7 after Elon Musk said it could be the future of crypto. It is trading around $0.18 as of Tuesday morning.

Musk has lent multiple endorsements for the dog-themed token on Twitter, including a February tweet saying he bought some for his son. Most recently, the billionaire said December 14 that Tesla will start accepting dogecoin for some merchandise -- sending the token soaring as much as 30% that day.

Dogecoin has rallied 3,655% year-to-date, fueled by a lighthearted community that backs the altcoin as a form of disruption to Wall Street's established financial institutions.

Read the original article on Business Insider