Around this time, Markus also lost his job and sold most of his cryptocurrency holdings to buy a Honda Civic.

Reflecting on the phenomenon, Markus acknowledges its influence and absurdity. He says, “It’s weird that something I made in a few hours is now part of internet culture.”

Billy Markus’ NFT Career

Despite stepping away from Dogecoin, Markus hasn’t completely left the Web 3 world. Under his Twitter alias Shibetoshi Nakamoto, Markus has released several NFT collections on the Ethereum blockchain.

Who Leads Dogecoin Now?

If Billy Markus has left Dogecoin behind, who is leading it towards its future?

Established in 2014, the Dogecoin Foundation was created to advocate for and support the Dogecoin project. The Dogecoin Foundation’s mantra, “Do Only Good Everyday,” guides its efforts and ensures that Dogecoin remains true to its roots in a market plagued with speculative and selfish interests.

The Dogecoin Foundation is led by a team of developers, including Jens Wiechers, Michi Lumin, and Timothy Stebbing. Their expertise and passion for Dogecoin have remained steadfast throughout several crypto cycles, giving DOGE holders confidence in the project's endurance.

Why Does Elon Musk Like Dogecoin?

One of Dogecoin’s most influential supporters is Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX. Musk sees Dogecoin as “the people’s currency” and superior to Bitcoin or Ethereum due to its lower fees and faster transaction times.

Bitcoin’s proof-of-work consensus is also a concern for Musk. After announcing that Tesla would accept BTC payments for their electric vehicles in 2021, Musk retracted this feature due to Bitcoin’s unsustainability, which conflicts with Tesla’s vision of environmentally-friendly transport options. Dogecoin, on the other hand, is less energy intensive.

Musk’s belief in Dogecoin extends beyond simple support. In 2022, Tesla began accepting DOGE for payments on their site. Dogecoin holders can also use DOGE to pay for Tesla services at SuperCharger stations.

As expected, Musk’s avid support of Dogecoin has led to several humorous engagements between the two on social media. Musk’s posts are known to cause significant movements in the price of DOGE. Recently, Musk changed the Twitter bird icon to the Dogecoin logo, causing excitement in the cryptocurrency community, who anticipate DOGE’s integration into future updates of ????, the newly rebranded social media platform.

Billy Markus has noted that his earnings from the platform dropped significantly since Musk took over. Markus mentioned that his payouts were only about a third of what they had been just two weeks prior, but he referred to it as “all magic bonus money,” easing any potential tension. Musk responded, lamenting that ???? revenue share is still “very much beta code” and expects it to become more stable over time.