Is
cryptocurrency a capitalistic scam, only benefitting the wealthy? That is what Jackson Palmer, co-founder of
Dogecoin, seems to think after reemerging on Twitter to explain his take on the current state of crypto.
On July 14th, Palmer addressed the frequent question of whether he will return to cryptocurrency after leaving Dogecoin behind. While his simple answer is “no,” there is much more behind this than meets the eye. First of all, Palmer believes 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.” In short, Palmer believes the wealthy are allegedly only using cryptocurrency, like
Bitcoin, akin to an international shell company for a tax haven.
Palmer also claims that the widely accepted “decentralization” that cryptocurrency boasts is not real. Purportedly, a wealthy group of people controls everything, and beneath that is “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.” This is because there is no real oversight or control for cryptocurrency at present; this is inherent to cryptocurrency's design to begin with.
You can read the
remainder of the Twitter thread here, but sadly, Palmer states that no one can discuss this problem without being up in arms or ending up on the receiving end of smear campaigns, and thus there is no point. However, all told, this is certainly an interesting take that does not seem improbable, as people such as
Elon Musk alter the crypto market with a simple tweet.