[Thread] Jackson Palmer, a Dogecoin co-creator, says crypto primarily amplifies the wealth of its proponents via tax avoidance, limited regulatory oversight
I am often asked if I will “return to cryptocurrency” or begin regularly sharing my thoughts on the topic again. My answer is a wholehearted “no”, but to avoid repeating myself I figure it might be worthwhile briefly explaining why here...
@ummjacksonJackson Palmer
Context & Ripple Effects
Jackson Palmer, who co-created Dogecoin before walking away from it, has published a thread explaining why he will not return to cryptocurrency or comment on it regularly: his claim is that the asset class primarily works to amplify the wealth of its own proponents through tax avoidance and thin regulatory oversight. The critique lands at a charged moment in the corpus timeline.
On one side sits the institutional push — Fidelity Investments and other big financial firms pressing the SEC for Bitcoin-linked ETFs even as crypto lobbying runs into resistance from US lawmakers. On the other sits a regulatory environment that has been hostile for years: the SEC's digital-asset framework was already driving innovative projects out of the US back in 2019. A founder of the most meme-driven major coin publicly siding against the asset class hands the skeptics their most quotable insider testimony yet.
First-order effects
Dogecoin's holder base and the merchants that have been adopting it for real-world purchases now face a legitimacy counterweight from inside the project's own founding story, arriving while the coin's price swings sharply on sentiment alone.
Second-order effects
US lawmakers resisting the Fidelity-led ETF lobbying effort gain an insider argument to cite against approval, reinforcing the regulatory friction the SEC's digital-asset framework has already created since 2019.
Third-order effects
If prominent founders keep disavowing the space while early backers capture outsized gains — the pattern Olaf Carlson-Wee's Polychain Capital profile exemplifies — the industry splits into an institutional legitimization track and an insider-skeptic camp, widening what is effectively a legitimacy gap rather than closing it.
The trend: Crypto's fight for mainstream legitimacy is being contested from both directions at once — institutions lobbying the SEC for access while the technology's own creators argue its core function is enriching insiders.
After years of studying it, I believe 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.
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.
I applaud those with the energy to continue asking the hard questions and applying the lens of rigorous skepticism all technology should be subject to. New technology can make the world a better place, but not when decoupled from its inherent politics or societal consequences.
Cryptocurrency is like taking the worst parts of today's capitalist system (eg. corruption, fraud, inequality) and using software to technically limit the use of interventions (eg. audits, regulation, taxation) which serve as protections or safety nets for the average person.
But these days even the most modest critique of cryptocurrency will draw smears from the powerful figures in control of the industry and the ire of retail investors who they've sold the false promise of one day being a fellow billionaire. Good-faith debate is near impossible.
For these reasons, I simply no longer go out of my way to engage in public discussion regarding cryptocurrency. It doesn't align with my politics or belief system, and I don't have the energy to try and discuss that with those unwilling to engage in a grounded conversation.
The cryptocurrency industry leverages a network of shady business connections, bought influencers and pay-for-play media outlets to perpetuate a cult-like “get rich quick” funnel designed to extract new money from the financially desperate and naive.
Financial exploitation undoubtedly existed before cryptocurrency, but cryptocurrency is almost purpose built to make the funnel of profiteering more efficient for those at the top and less safeguarded for the vulnerable.
Lose your savings account password? Your fault. Fall victim to a scam? Your fault. Billionaires manipulating markets? They're geniuses. This is the type of dangerous “free for all” capitalism cryptocurrency was unfortunately architected to facilitate since its inception.
The cryptocurrency markets are in fact hijacked by a powerful cartel of insiders and pump and dumpers. If you blow the whistle on them, they first try to pay you off with insider information, when you refuse, they'll stalk and attack the shit out of you for years. https://twitter…
Nothing to see here, just the cofounder of Dogecoin saying cryptocurrency is nothing more than an operation to centralize all the worst parts of the financial system in one spot so billionaires can manipulate it and make—you guessed it—more billions. https://twitter.com/...
Who the fuck cares if crypto makes rich cartels richer? It can make billionaires turn into mighty Norse gods as far as I'm concerned. As long as it makes me and the people I care about freer and richer, I'm all in! https://twitter.com/...
cool now fix - actually undo and repair - the years of material harm your support for it has done cos “WHOOPS LOL” means jack shit https://twitter.com/...
@oneunderscore__ @EliotETC Worth mentioning that he made Doge as an absolute joke, commenting that anything could be a dumb coin and sold all of it in 2015, he is actually quite consistent on his views
I don't know who this person is but after a few years watching the crypto bros pillage Puerto Rico I could have told you that... https://twitter.com/...
@uzohak Naw, there are quite a few people who support any crypto over the years that have crossed over the line very much and harassed, attacked, sent death threats, etc. I get enough crap and I support the community It all is what it is
A very good thread here by the co-creator of Dogecoin. But also, yet another person who—after years of being a booster, of studying, of soul searching—finally reached the conclusion that many of us have long known to be true. I promise it's way easier to listen from the start. ht…
Jackson is a straight shooter. I miss him, but glad he visits Twitter now and then to speak his mind. He was the co-founder of Dogecoin (meant as a parody), and I'm sure he is sick to his stomach watching the latest developments in the crypto space. Anyhow, an important thread ht…
I find this myopic rant interesting, considering it's from the founder of Dogecoin, an inflationary crypto with the worst store of value and limited use cases. Bitcoin is a true meritocracy as in anyone can participate and a chance to solve the unbanked and underbanked problem. h…
@laziestbullfrog He made tweet and website, I made coin. He started dogecoin foundation 1.0. I made first 5 releases, and left. He spearheaded 6th, then handed off the project.
cue the crypto advocates telling the co-founder of dogecoin that he just doesn't understand cryptocurrency and needs to do his research https://twitter.com/...
Co-creator of dogecoin. This is all basically my own thoughts on cryptocurrencies, nit including my firm “Bitcoin farms should be destroyed with EMP weapons” stance. https://twitter.com/...