Dogecoin Community Right Now Showing 'Lot Of Early Signs Of Illness,' Says Co-Founder

Dogecoin DOGE/USD co-creator Billy Markus believes that the meme coin's community is right now showing a “lot of early signs of illness.”

What Happened: Markus, who goes by the username Shibetoshi Nakamoto on Twitter, said that the Dogecoin backers should recognize how their behavior affects the community’s longevity.

See also: How To Buy Dogecoin (DOGE)

Markus added that an open letter he wrote to the DOGE community way back in 2014 is "still applicable."

I wrote this in 2014. It's still applicable.

Full letter: https://t.co/wRVFMwuQBz

I will assert that the community right now is showing a lot of early signs of illness. We need to recognize how our behavior affects the potential longevity of the community. pic.twitter.com/QUu9kCBj0i

— Shibetoshi Nakamoto (@BillyM2k) July 30, 2021

In the letter, Markus noted that a community starts to get sick the moment people stop trying to participate in making positive things happen and start complaining that others need to do things for them.

See Also: Dogecoin Core Developers, Co-Founder Revive Efforts To Establish Organization Supporting Meme Coin's Development

Why It Matters: Dogecoin was created mainly as a joke in 2013 and found utility as a tipping system on Reddit and Twitter to reward the creation or sharing of quality content.

In June, Markus said that the success of the meme cryptocurrency depended on contributions from Dogecoin holders in several ways, including using the altcoin as currency, tipping others, making memes and contributing to good causes.

Markus had previously noted that Dogecoin’s use as a tipping currency in 2014 helped it to “spread wildly.”

Dogecoin’s year-to-date gains are an impressive 3,497.9%. However, the Shiba Inu-themed cryptocurrency is down almost 72.2% from its all-time high of $0.7376 reached in May and is now in eighth place in terms of market capitalization, as per CoinMarketCap data.

Price Action: Dogecoin is down 5.6% during the last 24 hours, trading at $0.2052 at press time.

Read Next: Bitcoin Fails To Keep Above $40K, Ethereum, Dogecoin Struggle But These Minor Altcoins Are Charging Ahead