'Dogecoin was created in 2 hrs, environmental impact wasn't considered': Co-Founder Markus

Dogecoin co-creator Billy Markus did not take environmental impact into consideration while creating the cryptocurrency which was initially created as a joke, reported Independent. 

Created in 2013 by IBM software engineer Billy Markus and Adobe software engineer Jackson Palmer, Dogecoin has become one of the world’s most prominent and fastest-growing cryptocurrency. According to foreign media reports, the founders had decided to create a payment system as a joke, making fun of the wild speculation in cryptocurrencies at the time, and today is a household name. 

'Dogecoin was created in two hours': Markus

A Twitter user asked Billy Markus if he considered energy usage while creating the digital currency, "Or was that not something you thought about? How can the dev community make doge more efficient?" 

In his response, Markus, who goes by the username Shibetoshi Nakamoto on Twitter, stated he had created Dogecoin in "like two hours and didn't consider anything." 

Later in the day, Elon Musk, who has referred to himself as "Dogefather" in the past, once again tweeted that he was working with Dogecoin developers to improve system transaction efficiency. 

Dogecoin was trading at $0.53 (roughly Rs 39). The SpaceX CEO last week made an appearance on Saturday Night Live, a comedy sketch show, where he said the Dogecoin was a "hustle". Following Musk's remarks, the digital currency, which rallied massively over the past few months just as Bitcoin and Ether (price in India) have plunged by over a third of its value.

Created in 2013 by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, the digital currency, like Bitcoin, offers recourse to the inadequacies of traditional banking systems. Dogecoin's origin as a joke thus, made it difficult to be taken seriously by mainstream media and financial experts.

Cryptocurrency has had a long and problematic history of scams. It has been described as a scheme, where "those who got in early on bitcoin have a huge financial incentive to draw in others by any means necessary." 

Cryptocurrency- good idea but cannot come at a "great cost to the environment": Musk

Their official website Dogecoin.com promotes the Shiba Inu-themed cryptocurrency as the "fun and friendly internet currency", referencing its origins as a joke. However, the digital coin saw great popularity following endorsements from celebrities such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Earlier, Musk had established that he strongly believed in "crypto," adding that his electric vehicle-making company Tesla will not accept payments in Bitcoin because of environmental concerns. He took to Twitter and wrote that he was working with developers of Dogecoin to improve transaction efficiency.

Musk's tweet came after Tesla suspended the purchase of vehicles using Bitcoin, the world's oldest and largest cryptocurrency, in which the leading electric car manufacturer invested $1.5 billion (roughly Rs. 10,990 crores) earlier this year. The company further said that cryptocurrency is a good idea on many levels and it believed it has a good future but it cannot come at the "great cost to the environment".