By co-founding the first meme coin, Billy Markus (aka Shibetoshi Nakamoto) made his mark on the crypto space with Dogecoin. The software engineer never expected the idea to blow up and become a lucrative venture! With around 132 billion Dogecoins in existence, his creation now has a market cap of $10.4 billion.
Billy Markus’ Net Worth
Markus revealed on Twitter that he owns 220,000 Dogecoin tokens which is worth around $17,100. A relatively small amount for creating one of the top cryptocurrencies. Markus’ net worth is estimated to be between $1 to $5 million as of 2023. Despite his impressive wealth, it’s obvious he has no interest in making money.
Early Life
Billy Markus was born in Oregon in 1983 and is around 40 years-old. Like a lot of crypto enthusiasts, Markus got interested in computers and programming at a young age. In addition, Billy has been friends with Dogecoin co-founder Jackson Palmer since childhood and both have the same enthusiasm for technology.
Working As a Software Engineer
Before becoming one of the most influential names in the crypto industry, Markus worked as a software engineer. While working for IBM, he became dissatisfied with his role and began working on side projects. The majority of the projects were cryptocurrency-related and this sparked the concept of what we know today as Dogecoin.
Creating Dogecoin
Markus connected with his friend Jackson Palmer on Twitter and joked, “Investing in Dogecoin, pretty sure it’s the next big thing.” Then, on December 8, 2013, Markus and Palmer decided to release their digital currency out into the world.
The small team of two decided Dogecoin would be ideal against the context of cryptocurrencies’ shady reputation at the time because it was created around community and humor.
Palmer bought the domain Dogecoin.com, inserted the coin’s iconic logo and a generic Comic Sans typeface, and then handed the project to Markus to finish. Using his knowledge as a software engineer, Markus leveraged Luckycoin and Litecoin as a basis for Dogecoin.
Becoming an Influencer
Markus shifted his priority to social media and cryptocurrencies in June 2014, just seven months after the birth of Dogecoin. And as fate would have it, his social media campaigns aligned with the dramatic rise in popularity of the meme cryptocurrency. Dogecoin’s popularity soared after its inception, with over a million visitors to its platform in the first month.
However, he and Palmer decided to leave Dogecoin in the same year it was created, saying that the crypto community was not very welcoming to their unconventional achievement.
But the good news is, Billy Markus is now back. Seven years after his leaving the industry he played a role in building, Shibetoshi Nakamoto is back on the web doing what he does best yet again. Currently, Shibetoshi has over two million followers on Twitter!
— Shibetoshi Nakamoto (@BillyM2k) January 6, 2023
