Is Elon Musk The Dogecoin Whale? You Wish, But Core Developer Has A More Boring Theory

A core developer of Dogecoin (DOGE) said speculations that the owner of a wallet that holds the world’s largest amount of the meme cryptocurrency is a single individual are likely misplaced, Business Insider reported Sunday.

What Happened: Patric Lodder's comments were centered around the address containing $10.94 billion worth of DOGE. Lodder told the Insider that the more likely owner of the wallet was a cryptocurrency exchange.

The address has piled up 36.7 million DOGE since 2019, which accounts for nearly 28% of the supply of the Shiba Inu-themed cryptocurrency.

See Also: How to Buy Dogecoin (DOGE)

DOGE traded 13.8% lower at $0.30 at press time over a 24-hour basis. The coin has fallen 39.97% over a seven-day trailing basis.

Against Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), DOGE has fallen 6.14% and 3.85% respectively in a 24-hour period.

BTC traded 6.91% lower at $35,245.48, while ETH traded 9.14% lower at $2,121.33 at press time.

Why It Matter: Lodder said that anyone can send DOGE to a publicly listed address so incoming funds are not a “clue” to the address’s identity unless the increase is large, Business Insider reported.

Last week, Decrypt had touched on the speculation that the whale account holder is an admirer of Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk pointing to transactions with values like 420, 69, and 28.061971, which are associated with the entrepreneur. 

See Also: Elon Musk Gets Schooled By Ethereum Co-Founder On How To Improve Dogecoin

Lodder reportedly dismissed such theories saying, “These are all jokers, that probably has nothing to do with the operator of the wallet, that's just people having fun.”

Dogecoin co-creator Billy Markus shared Lodder’s interview in a tweet saying it should be shared with “anyone assuming something stupid, like it's elon musk.”

whale wallet thoughts from a core dev
go ahead and send this to anyone assuming something stupid, like it's elon muskhttps://t.co/r3VeOPJcQE

— Shibetoshi Nakamoto (@BillyM2k) May 24, 2021

Coindesk’s head of research told Business Insider that the infrequent activity on the wallet could point to the wallet belonging to an individual, but, according to Lodder, it could instead be a cold storage wallet for an exchange.

Lodder said it was foolhardy to publish assumptions about the ownership of the wallet. “While it is fun to speculate about the ownership of wallets, the only way to be 100% sure of who owns what is when the owner comes forward with (cryptographic) proof,” said the developer associated with DOGE since 2014.

As for the owner, Lodder thinks it could be beneficial for Dogecoin and the wider cryptocurrency community if the exchange that owns the address came forward.

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