The net worth of Billy Markus is estimated to be around $10 million in 2023. He made his wealth through his endeavors as a software developer and crypto holdings. Today, he is widely popular as the creator of Dogecoin, one of the leading meme coin projects around. Markus is also an early investor of Ethereum and Bitcoin but stopped acquiring more tokens after he purportedly realized that cryptocurrencies are designed to enrich their founders.
Meanwhile, he exited the Dogecoin project in 2015 citing pressure from the community. Ever since, the project has performed brilliantly, securing the support of influential investors like Elon Musk. Billy Markus sold a portion of his Doge holdings after losing his job. He used the returns from the sale to acquire a Honda Civic.
Billy Markus’ Net Worth
| Year | Net Worth |
|---|---|
| 2023 | $10 million |
Early Life
Billy Markus was born in 1983, in Portland, Oregon, United States. He made a name for himself as a software engineer and once worked with the International Business Machine Corporation. Markus picked up interest in Bitcoin at an early stage and even used his gaming to mine the token.
As a game enthusiast, he has played a lot of MMORPGs, including World of Warcraft. His belief was that cryptocurrency and NFTs would be moving in the direction of games in the nearest future. This passion encouraged him to create a virtual currency called Bells. The project was inspired by the coin in Nintendo’s Animal Crossing life simulation game. However, the initiative failed to record mainstream acceptance.
Then, Markus worked from home, designing educational software for children-oriented projects. This provided him with enough time to become an active and prominent figure on Twitter. He leverages the platform to stay connected with the crypto community and air his opinion on issues relating to it. Also, Markus is an early investor in projects like Reddit, Ethereum, and Joby Aviation.
Later, he conceived the idea of creating Dogecoin as a joke on Bitcoin. He reached out to Jackson Palmer, a former Adobe software engineer who owned the Dogecoin.com domain. The duo decided to design a peer-to-peer virtual currency that could reach a broader demographic than Bitcoin. Dogecoin protocol was successfully developed using existing projects like Luckycoin and Litecoin. Then, the two projects use scrypt technology in their proof-of-work algorithm. The adoption of this technology implies that miners are permitted to use less-sophisticated devices to mine the token.
Dogecoin
On December 6, 2013, Billy Markus officially launched Dogecoin and it began to enjoy widespread acceptance within a few weeks, soaring by almost 300%. The project recorded a massive influx of investment in its early days. According to our findings, millions of users visited its official website within the first thirty days of going live.
However, the project suffered a setback after authorities in China decided to ban the involvement of local banks in the virtual assets market. Just like other assets in the market at that time, Dogecoin plummeted by 80%. Later, it began to endure some illicit issues that almost crippled its future. On December 25, 2013, the crypto community was greeted by the first major theft of Dogecoin.
Then, hackers stole millions of Dogecoin after hacking online cryptocurrency wallet platform Dogewallet. Per reports, the hacker carried out the attack after gaining access to Dogewallet’s file system. The hacker then made some alterations to the platform and transferred all the Dogecoin within their reach to a static account.
During that period, Dogecoin attracted unwanted attention among crypto enthusiasts, especially on Twitter. The attention made the meme coin the most talked about crypto project on Twitter. Billy Markus alongside other prominent members of the Doge community intervened. They organized a campaign to compensate victims of the hack. The initiative; “SaveDogemas” enjoyed widespread participation and within a month, affected users were duly compensated for the hack.
On the flip side, the whole drama came out good for the project as it attracted investors’ attention. Consequently, more devoted members joined the Dogecoin community. This development birthed a surprising situation in January 2014 when the trading volume of Dogecoin briefly surpassed that of Bitcoin and all other cryptocurrencies. The growth didn’t reflect in the market capitalization of Dogecoin as Bitcoin maintained its status as the largest cryptocurrency. During the year, the project inaugurated the Dogecoin Foundation. Then, Markus intended to use the foundation for the promotion of the project.
The Dogecoin foundation with the support of the project’s community donated to various charitable causes. In January 2014, the Dogecoin community committed itself to raise about $50,000 for the Jamaican Olympic team to enable the team to attend the Sochi Winter Olympics. The fundraising effort actualized about $36,000 worth of Dogecoin in less than two days. During the year, the Dogecoin foundation also donated towards building a well in the Tana river basin in Kenya. The foundation raised $30,000 for the cause.
so jamaica very olympic
much bobsled such @Crowdtilt
$30,000 wowhttp://t.co/y8Eu7Oo2wN— Dogecoin (@dogecoin) January 21, 2014
Meanwhile, the success was overshadowed by the sudden departure of Jackson Palmer from the crypto space in 2015. The co-founder said he had no plans to return to the industry. Then, he realized that crypto is designed to make its top proponents wealthy alone. Billy Markus became the subject of a controversy after he aired support for Jackson Palmer’s submission. He said Palmer’s opinion was “generally valid.”
He also left Dogecoin the same year, citing harassment from the project’s community. In 2015, after losing his job, Markus cashed on his Dogecoin holdings and bought a Honda Civic with the returns. Ever since, the Dogecoin community took over the project.
However, the resilience of the Dogecoin community paid off as the token recorded a market capitalization of $2 billion in January 2018. During the period, the token obtained a market-high of $0.017. This growth was in tune with the crypto boom of late 2017 to 2018. Luckily, Dogecoin was at the center of this remarkable development owing to its popularity then. At that time, notable investors started to pick interest in the industry.
The project continued to progress due to the commitment of its community. In July 2020, the community organized a TikTok trend to push the token to $1. Consequently, Dogecoin reacted positively as it recorded a substantial increase, but failed to attain the expected benchmark. Later in 2021, Billy Markus returned into the crypto market and renewed his focus on the Dogecoin ecosystem, community, and the promotion of the project. In April 2021, Dogecoin rallied due to a direct listing on Coinbase. The listing triggered the price to over $0.45.
The increase amounted to a 400% surge in the value of Dogecoin within a short period of time. Consequently, the token became the fifth largest cryptocurrency by trading volume as its market cap attained a value level of $50 billion. In March 2021, Mark Cuban announced that his NBA team; Dallas Mavericks, would accept payments in Dogecoin for the purchase of tickets and products. By May 4, 2021, the value of the token already went up beyond $0.50. Later that year, the Dogecoin Foundation was re-established. The foundation had prominent individuals like Vitalik Buterin and Jared Birchall on its board of advisers.
Elon Musk’s Support For Dogecoin
Barely a few years after the launch of Dogecoin, it enjoyed the support of Tesla CEO, Elon Musk. On various occasions, Musk aired his support for the project. His constant opinions about the meme coin usually soar its value and adoption. In early 2019, Musk was jokingly elected the CEO of Dogecoin via a poll on Twitter.
His most recognizable support for the project surfaced in December 2020 after he tweeted “Doge.” In reaction, the token surged by 20%. Meanwhile, Jackson Palmer has always criticized Musk regarding his support for the token. The Dogecoin co-founder referred to Elon Musk as a “self-absorbed grifter.”
https://youtu.be/gq5vm6kGhJ4
The comment resulted in a Twitter war between Elon Musk and Jackson Palmer. Palmer said that the billionaire, despite being a tech-savvy individual, doesn’t know how to write programming codes. In return, the Tesla CEO said his kids write better code than Palmer even when they were 12. Despite the criticism, Elon Musk refused to back out from his support for the project. His tweets about the coin have serially helped it enjoy a great price rally.
For instance, in January 2021, Elon Musk’s vocal support for Dogecoin pushed it to $0.07, representing about an 800% increase. In February 2021, another post from Elon Musk about Dogecoin triggered another price rally for Dogecoin. Then, the token hit a new high price of $0.08.
On April 15, 2021, the value of Dogecoin went up beyond 100% due to a tweet from Elon Musk. The tweet contained the painting of Joan Miró’s dog barking at the moon. Also, on May 9, 2021, Elon Musk through a tweet revealed that his company, SpaceX would fund its rideshare mission to the Moon using Dogecoin. Then, the token became the first cryptocurrency to be used to fund a space mission.
Like Jackson Palmer, Elon Musk’s support for Dogecoin didn’t sit well with some people that invested in the token. On June 16, 2022, Keith Johnson filed a complaint against Elon Musk in a Manhattan federal court seeking $258 billion as damages. The plaintiff complained about how Elon Musk repeatedly used his social influence to support Dogecoin. Also, Johson stated that the support artificially inflated the price of the meme coin.
The Influence of Elon Musk over the price of Dogecoin surfaced again in October, 2022. The value of the coin went up by 45% after he completed a deal worth $44 billion to make Twitter private.
It is worth mentioning that despite Elon Musk’s support for Dogecoin, he didn’t meet Billy Markus in person as of November 2022. The Dogecoin co-founder made this revelation during an AMA session. Then, he recalled that despite Tesla’s boss’ support for his project, they were yet to see each other physically. Likewise, Markus refuted the possibility of working with Elon Musk on Twitter. Nonetheless, the duo seems to be enjoying a good relationship on Twitter.
On numerous occasions, they share the same memes relating to tech. On April 10, 2023, Elon Musk tested a new subscription feature on Markus’s account by “subscribing to him.” The subscription feature was aimed at boosting both the revenue generation for Twitter and adding more value to influencers.
We’re firing up creator subscriptions bigtime! Works for longform text, pics or video.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 13, 2023
Meanwhile, the Tesla CEO stirred unwanted controversy after he changed the bird logo of Twitter to a Doge meme for desktop users between April 3 to April 7, 2023. Then, the price of Dogecoin soared, thereby fueling allegations of insider trading against him.
Is Billy Markus Pro Crypto?
It is safe to identify Billy Markus as a strong proponent of cryptocurrency. This is due to his various antecedents since venturing into the space around 2013. As a proficient software developer, it was not difficult for Markus to understand the technical principles of cryptocurrency. Then, he picked up an interest to develop the industry amid its controversial reputation at that time. It was this interest that encouraged him to create Dogecoin in a way that is entirely different from the controversial history of other cryptocurrencies. Therefore, the project was centered around community and humor so as to foster mass adoption.
“I ran across the website randomly and thought it would be funny to make the actual Dogecoin. I threw it together in a few hours, and we launched it, and then it took off, and lots of crazy stuff happened since,” he said.
Notably, the development of Dogecoin was Markus’ first contribution to the crypto industry. He was critical of Bitcoin’s scalability problem and felt the emergence of Dogecoin could provide a faster alternative. His belief was that it is always possible to develop crypto that can do something useful for the world rather than just using up electricity. In a 2013 interview, Markus said “I think what everyone wants is a coin where the mining process is actually useful.”
It is worth establishing that the landslide success recorded by Dogecoin positioned Markus as one of the influential names in the industry. Although he left the project around 2015, his contributions toward its development cannot be erased. According to our findings, the co-founder terminated his affiliation with the project because of the alleged harassment from community members. Then, DogeCoin enjoyed the backing of over a million community members but Markus chose not to mention the identities of the members harassing him. He left the crypto setting and vowed not to return.
However, barely seven years later, he made a surprise return to the industry and has since remained consistent as a committed member of the Doge community. Since his return, the Dogecoin co-founder has been leveraging his vast Twitter handle to share insights about developments in the crypto market. His handle is notable as Shibetoshi Nakamoto in a nod to pseudonymous Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto and has not less than 2 million followers. Meanwhile, Markus still talks about DogeCoin and has always encouraged his followers to donate their assets to worthwhile initiatives. He believes charity is not the only way to show generosity, affirming that “anything that is amusing or fun has value as well.”
To Markus, the “true value” of Dogecoin lies in the good thing people do with it. Barely a few months after his return to the crypto space, he wrote a Reddit letter where he reflected on how people donated their coins to help avail water to drought-stricken Kenya, sponsor Jamaica’s Olympic team, and many more. According to him; “joy, kindness, learning, giving, empathy, fun, community, inspiration, creativity, generosity, silliness, absurdity. These types of things are what makes Dogecoin worthwhile to me. If the community embodies these things, that’s True Value.”
Meanwhile, Markus has no doubt about the potential of Dogecoin to hit $1. Recall that the token, in recent years, recorded a massive rise in its value due to its endorsement by Elon Musk and eventual adoption by Tesla. Although it is yet to attain $1, Markus believes his creation has what it takes to get there soon. He said; “It’s an open market, so the current value is simply decided by whatever someone is willing to pay for it at a specific point in time. If the world collectively decides they are willing to purchase it for a dollar, then it’s worth a dollar. In the world of cryptocurrency valuations, I would say, historically the question is less about ‘Why?’ and more about ‘Why not?’”
It is worth establishing that Markus has now positioned himself as a commentator due to his analytical perspectives and commentaries about issues unfolding in the industry. This explains why millions of investors usually look up to him for investment advice and insights.
Amid the bearish market that greeted the market in 2022, Markus lamented that 95% of the cryptocurrency projects are scams and cautioned people on the dangers of investing in the industry. He said,”The reason why people think crypto is 95% scams and garbage and most crypto people are assholes is because crypto is 95% scams and garbage and most crypto people are assholes.”
The Dogecoin co-founder also tasked investors to ensure that they do their homework by researching the fundamentals of cryptocurrencies before venturing into them. He described investment in crypto as a subtle form of gambling.
Later, Markus trolled Michael Saylor for “over-glorifying Bitcoin.” The renowned Bitcoin maximalist had earlier described the crypto as a “miracle happening right before our eyes.” In a harsh response, the Doge co-founder asked Saylor to sell his kids for Bitcoin. It is not in doubt that Markus is a believer in the long-term potential of Bitcoin, but he does not like to see people over-glorify the crypto. As a matter of fact, he once sarcastically said he created Bitcoin and tipped the crypto to attain $100,000 soon.
Just recently, the influential co-founder gave a hint about how Bitcoin is related to Dogecoin. Then, he shared a cover photo of a book written by John Stevenson and titled “Dogecoin — Bitcoin’s Poor Cousin?.” In his caption, Markus wrote, “Bitcoin is Cousin Greg.”
Recall that he co-founded Doge as a parody of Bitcoin. The project uses the same consensus mechanism as Bitcoin and Markus believes his creation works exactly the same way as the largest crypto by market cap.
doge works the same way as bitcoin
— Shibetoshi Nakamoto (@BillyM2k) June 6, 2023
However, Markus is not pleased with the U.S. SEC’s approach to regulating cryptocurrency. He believes the regulator has been so bad at their work in the past twenty years. The co-founder expressed doubt about SEC’s purported effort to protect investors from the risks in the crypto market, saying “how many failures has the SEC protected us from in the last 20 years?” He questioned why the agency has failed to go after politicians engaging in insider trading.
why doesn’t the SEC go after politicians for all their insider trading?
— Shibetoshi Nakamoto (@BillyM2k) April 18, 2023
In recent years, the U.S. regulator has been enmeshed in numerous controversies following its clampdown on crypto firms in the country. It argued that crypto assets are securities and should be subjected to existing financial regulations under its purview. As part of its efforts to pursue its stance, it filed several lawsuits against crypto firms, accusing them of offering unregistered securities.
However, it suffered a setback around July 2023 after the U.S. Court ruled against its filing against one of the concerned crypto firms, Ripple. The Court ruled that the firm’s native crypto, XRP is not a security, thereby putting a logical end to the three-year legal tussle. Shortly after the judgment dominated the airspace, Markus trolled the regulator, saying he was happy it kept suing and losing.
i like how the FTC and SEC keep suing businesses and losing
great use of taxpayer dollars
— Shibetoshi Nakamoto (@BillyM2k) July 14, 2023
Crypto and NFT Holdings of Billy Markus
Initially, Billy Markus held a huge portion of Doge in his portfolio. However, he emptied his wallet after losing his job in 2015 and used the proceeds to buy a used Honda Civic. Then, Markus exited the industry and pledged not to ever get involved in cryptocurrency again. Shortly after, Dogecoin recorded widespread popularity, particularly after its endorsement by Elon Musk. The popularity helped soar the market value of the token and could have even aided the net worth of Billy Markus if he never sold his holdings.
However, barely eight years later, the Dogecoin co-founder made a surprise return to the industry. He then reneged on his pledge by buying 200,000 Doge for $40,000. He confirmed the purchase in a now-deleted Twitter post, where he was quoted saying “I bought dogecoin after 8 years of vowing never to buy crypto again. I have checked the price 7 times so far since then.”
Markus also clarified that his return to the industry does not signify that he would continue as the developer of Doge. He said; “Yet another reminder: I don’t speak for dogecoin. I am not on the project. I am a community member.”
Apart from Dogecoin, Markus also holds Bitcoin and Ethereum in his portfolio. According to our findings, he bought these assets after his return to the industry in 2021. Meanwhile, if Markus had not left the industry around 2015, he would have invested in Bitcoin earlier and made substantial gains from its aggressive rise in recent years. Today, there are scores of prominent Bitcoin investors who made it big through early investments in the crypto. Nevertheless, Markus jokingly said he now holds 0.0054 BTC valued at $161 as of July 2023.
my $100 of bitcoin turned into $103 yippie
— Shibetoshi Nakamoto (@BillyM2k) April 11, 2023
Also, we can confirm that he owns an appreciable amount of Ethereum in the portfolio. However, the Dogecoin creator sold a large portion of the holdings in December 2022 to pay taxes. At the time he sold the crypto, it traded for around $1,190 each. Barely six months later, it spiked to $1,900. This thus means Markus could have benefitted from the rally if he had waited a bit longer.
i sold a bunch of eth at $1190 so i could pay 2022 taxes
so everyone, you’re welcome for this rally 🤣
— Shibetoshi Nakamoto (@BillyM2k) January 12, 2023
Meanwhile, despite claiming he won’t invest in NFTs, several collections have been linked to him. His portfolios on OpenSea and Rarible feature hundreds of NFT collections, including The Crappy Doodle Buddies, NakaDoges, BlockyDoge, and many more. According to our findings, These Crappy Doodle NFTs come with the signature of the Dogecoin co-founder and have a floor price of 0.3 ETH.
neither
— Shibetoshi Nakamoto (@BillyM2k) April 27, 2023
Crypto and NFT Projects Featuring Billy Markus
Due to his contributions to the development of Dogecoin, Markus and his partner Palmer have been featured in one of the CryptoDrunk NFTs. The NFT is enveloped with caricature representations of the duo as well as the dog that inspired the meme coin. Also, there is another NFT which features Markus alone. All these NFTs are live on OpenSea as of the time of writing.
Meanwhile, following his return to the industry, it is expected that Markus’ engagement will attract scores of projects including Wall Street Memes. Wall Street Memes is an established brand on social media platforms, particularly Twitter and Instagram due to its amusing memes. Just like Markus’ Doge, it believes in the potential of memes to advance the situations in the crypto arena. This explains why it has featured renowned individuals like Sam Bankman-Fried, Donald Trump, Warren Buffett, and several others in its memes.
Despite the heavy competition in the meme market, Wall Street Memes has been able to successfully win the support of about one million social media followers. This backing has helped its ongoing $WSM presale become an instant hit, with over $15 million raised as of July 2023. More so, the project has been able to secure the attention of top guys in the industry like Elon Musk, thereby igniting its comparison with Markus’ Doge. Just like the project, Wall Street Memes also seeks to reshape the rules of finance by leveraging the power of memes.
Meanwhile, its ongoing $WSM presale has been largely successful, thereby making the list of top crypto presales in the market. The over $15 million raised so far is enough indication that the meme coin is experiencing remarkable growth in its demand.
The team behind the project has also designed the tokenomics of $WSM to meet this demand, with 50% of its total supply reserved for the entire presale. As a community-driven project, 30% of the token will be used for community rewards, and the remaining 20% for exchange liquidity. This distribution system has further strengthened the belief of investors in the project as it avails them full control of their assets – a key value of any substantial crypto.
The ongoing presale has attracted scores of influencers who have now declared their support for the meme coin. Just recently, a popular YouTuber, Michael Wrubel announced to his three hundred thousand subscribers that he has participated in the presale and tasked them all to do the same. Wrubel, in a video, described the meme coin as a crypto with long-term potential.
With all these hypes, it won’t be surprising to see $WSM record at least $30 million at the end of the presale and as well attract the attention of tier-one crypto exchanges. This means potential investors must act fast to get the meme coin at the best possible price. According to analysts, $WSM might be the next cryptocurrency to lead the market. You can visit wallstmemes.com to read more about the project.
Billy Markus’ Net Worth – Our Verdict
Although Billy Markus is no longer a developer with Dogecoin, his contributions to the creation and advancement of the project cannot be erased. As the co-founder of the meme coin, he didn’t get his flowers and has faced harassment and death threats from the community in recent years. These threats prompted him, and his partner, Palmer to hand over the project in 2015. So, the duo couldn’t benefit from the impressive performance of the meme coin as its creators.
Meanwhile, Billy Markus made a shocking return to the industry in 2021 and has continued to engage in crypto trading to grow his net worth. But, he is not willing to retake his role as the developer of Dogecoin and has, severally, told his followers that he only wants to stay as a community member of the project.
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FAQs
Why did Billy Markus leave the Dogecoin project in 2015?
Billy Markus abandoned his Dogecoin project after he faced harassment and death threats from the community.
What did Billy Markus buy with the proceeds of his Dogecoin holdings?
Billy Markus used the returns from the sale to acquire a used Honda Civic.
What's the 2023 net worth of Billy Markus?
The 2023 net worth of Billy Markus is estimated to be around $10 million.
