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One of the key architects of the cryptocurrency Dogecoin has made a rare appearance to attack virtual currencies.
Jackson Palmer,
who co-founded Dogecoin—named after a dog meme—back in 2013, has launched a stinging attack on what crypto has become.
Taking to
Twitter
on Wednesday, he wrote 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.”
Read: A Goldman Sachs boss has reportedly quit after making millions on Dogecoin
Palmer, an Adobe software engineer, helped create the digital currency with IBM software engineer Billy Markus—originally as a joke—to appeal to a wider pool of users than Bitcoin.
But he has since become disillusioned, claiming crypto has been hijacked by the wealthy.
“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,” he tweeted.
“The cryptocurrency industry leverages a network of shady business connections, bought influencers and pay-for-play media outlets to perpetuate a cultlike ‘get rich quick’ funnel designed to extract new money from the financially desperate and naive.”
He argues that cryptocurrency has taken the worst parts of today’s capitalist system (e.g., corruption, fraud, inequality), using software to technically limit the use of interventions (e.g., audits, regulation, taxation) that serve as protections or safety nets for the average person.
Separately, Italy on Thursday was the latest country to crack down on the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance.
Read: Cryptocurrencies rise despite regulators in Japan and U.K. warning on Binance exchange
The Italian regulator Consob warned that Binance companies weren’t authorized to provide investment services in the country.
In June, authorities in both the United Kingdom and Japan banned affiliates of Binance from operating in those countries.
Write to Rupert Steiner at rupert.steiner@dowjones.com
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