Musk Throws Shade At Dogecoin Creator Who Called Him 'Self-Absorbed Grifter'

Billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk got his chance — and used it — to hit back at on of Dogecoin's co-creators who had previously called him a "self-absorbed grifter."

Dogecoin co-founder Billy Markus, who goes by the Twitter handle Shibetoshi Nakamoto, while promoting fellow co-founder Jackson Palmer's show podcast over the weekend, noted that he "has a lot of experience and perspective" about cryptocurrency. Musk seized the opportunity and chimed in: "He can be a little negative at times tbh."

Palmer screenshot Markus and Musk's tweet exchange and captioned it "achievement unlocked." Palmer, an An Australian, co-founded Dogecoin with Markus as a joke in 2013. He left the cryptocurrency community in 2015 because, according to him, it has a "toxic" culture.

"I tried my best to educate people for a while … but then I realized that nobody really cared about it," Palmer said in the podcast. Last year DOGE recorded an all-time high of $0.688813 and became a $90 billion giant.

Last year Palmer, in a tweet that has since been deleted, reminded crypto Twitter that "Elon Musk is and will always be a self-absorbed grifter." He added that he will remove the tweet after a minute since that's all he has to say and he "enjoys a quiet life."

Palmer remains Musk's critique, which is a stark contrast to Markus' enthusiasm toward the tech billionaire. A few weeks ago, he took a jab at crypto influencers and gave a piece of advise to investors.

"I feel obligated to remind everyone that just because a loud person on the internet is telling you that "averaging down" or "buying the dip" is a galaxy brain move, it doesn't mean they have your best interests at heart," Palmer tweeted.

"More often than not, those very influencers are depending on you to buy away their own financial problems. There is no shame in prioritizing your health & safety. Don't let others convince you into more financial, emotional or mental struggle," he added.

In July last year, Palmer criticized cryptocurrency calling it "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."

DOGE was trading up 1.92% at $0.08613 with a 24-hour volume of $374,094,575, as of 4:36 p.m. ET on Sunday, based on the data from CoinMarketCap.