Billy Markus, who created the original meme-inspired cryptocurrency Dogecoin in 2013 in collaboration with Jackson Palmer, has responded to a recent tweet by Elon Musk.
The crypto community interpreted Markus’s tweet as a hint at Bitcoin mining equipment.
"The new gold" Markus tweets to Musk
Earlier today, centibillionaire and owner of X/Twitter app Elon Musk tweeted a meme about a knight who wishes to kill a dragon and take his gold. Meanwhile, the dragon tells the knight that he does not own any gold in the traditional sense of the word.
Instead, the dragon shows the knight that he guards a thresher that separates the wheat from the chaff without much manual labor necessary. The dragon points out the benefits of new technologies to the warrior and tells him that he also has an automated cotton loom. “The wealth of nations lies not in gold or coins but in their productive capacity,” the dragon says, adding that mining more gold than there is now would also make gold less valuable.
The disappointed knight leaves the dragon and his cave in peace.
Supporting Musk and his message on new technologies, Billy Markus posted an animated GIF of a cooler fan, stating that this is “the new gold.” Commentators pointed out that this very much resembles part of the ASIC miners for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies based on the proof-of-work consensus algorithm, including Dogecoin.
Elon Musk and Bitcoin
Musk is a well-known fan of DOGE and a “pen pal” of Markus. In 2021, Musk announced that Tesla would begin accepting Bitcoin for its e-cars, along with buying a massive $1.5 billion worth of the flagship cryptocurrency – approximately 43,000 BTC back then.
However, a few months later, Tesla backed out of taking Bitcoin payments out of environmental concerns. In April that year, when this Tesla Bitcoin reverse happened, BTC soared to its first all-time high that year, reaching $63,500. Musk announced that Tesla would resume accepting Bitcoin payments once miners replaced 50% of their energy to renewable resources. Tesla and SpaceX accept Dogecoin, though. A lunar mission paid for in DOGE is expected to take place in the foreseeable future.
However, both of these companies run by Musk still hold BTC, as reported by U.Today recently.