Space Summary
The Twitter Space Memes, Crypto, Elon Musk, & Politics W/ Doge Creator Billy Markus (@BillyM2k) hosted by HiRezTheRapper. Exploring the dynamic world of memes, crypto, politics, and influential figures like Elon Musk, alongside the unique insights shared by Dogecoin creator Billy Markus (@BillyM2k). The space delves into the fusion of culture, technology, and humor, emphasizing the power of memes in shaping digital narratives and engaging diverse audiences. With a focus on audience engagement, business opportunities, and the multifaceted identity of content creators, the space offers a vibrant and insightful journey through the realms of creativity and community building.
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Space Statistics
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Questions
Q: How do memes influence digital culture and engagement?
A: Memes serve as cultural touchpoints, driving engagement and reflecting societal trends.
Q: What is the significance of meme-centered cryptocurrencies like Dogecoin?
A: Meme coins bridge pop culture and finance, appealing to a broad audience and reshaping the crypto landscape.
Q: How does the involvement of personalities like Elon Musk impact the crypto market?
A: Influential figures can sway crypto values and trends, emphasizing the influence of popular culture on digital assets.
Q: What role does humor play in navigating complex topics like politics and crypto?
A: Humor can break barriers, making intricate subjects accessible and fostering discussions in unconventional ways.
Q: How does social media amplify the voices of content creators like Billy Markus?
A: Platforms like YouTube empower creators to connect with global audiences, expanding their influence and reach.
Q: Why is audience engagement crucial for content creators in the digital space?
A: Engagement nurtures community bonds, fosters loyalty, and can lead to growth opportunities for creators.
Q: How do email inquiries contribute to the business aspect of content creation?
A: Emails serve as a gateway for collaborations, sponsorships, and business inquiries, enabling creators to monetize their content.
Q: What insights can be gained from the multi-faceted identity of creators like Billy Markus?
A: Understanding creators' diverse interests and talents adds depth to their public personas, resonating with varied audiences.
Q: What role does humor and creativity play in building digital communities?
A: Humor and creativity create shared experiences, bonding individuals and fostering a sense of belonging within digital communities.
Q: Why is the fusion of culture, technology, and current events significant in digital discussions?
A: Blending these elements enriches conversations, making complex topics relatable and engaging for diverse audiences.
Highlights
Time: 00:15:30
The Power of Memes in Culture Exploring how memes shape narratives and connect with global audiences.
Time: 00:28:45
Impact of Elon Musk on Crypto Trends Analyzing the influence of figures like Elon Musk on digital currencies and market dynamics.
Time: 00:40:20
Meme Coins and Popular Culture Discussing the rise of meme-inspired cryptocurrencies like Dogecoin and their impact on the crypto community.
Time: 00:52:15
Navigating Political Discussions with Humor Examining how humor can facilitate discussions on politics and societal issues in the digital sphere.
Time: 01:05:10
Creator's Journey: Insights from Billy Markus Gaining perspective on the creative process and experiences of content creators like Billy Markus.
Time: 01:18:30
Engagement Strategies for Content Creators Exploring effective ways for creators to engage with their audience and build a loyal following.
Time: 01:32:00
Monetization Opportunities for Creators Understanding the role of email interactions in creating business opportunities for content creators.
Time: 01:45:20
Artistic Expressions Beyond Creation Delving into the multifaceted talents and interests of creators like Billy Markus.
Time: 01:58:00
Humor as a Community Building Tool Highlighting the role of humor and creativity in strengthening digital communities and fostering connections.
Time: 02:10:05
Cultural Fusion in Digital Conversations Exploring the blend of culture, technology, and current events in shaping engaging digital dialogues.
Key Takeaways
- Memes can play a significant role in shaping cultural narratives and engaging diverse audiences.
- The relationship between crypto, memes, and popular culture reflects the evolving landscape of digital currencies.
- Understanding the impact of influential figures like Elon Musk on crypto markets and trends.
- Exploring the intersection of politics and meme culture, and its implications on societal discussions.
- Insight into the journey of a creator like Billy Markus, the mind behind Dogecoin, and his perspectives on radical freedom.
- The power of social media platforms like YouTube in amplifying content creators' voices and reach.
- The importance of open dialogues and engagement with fans for creators in navigating their digital presence.
- The dynamics of email inquiries for content creators as a channel for business opportunities and collaborations.
- Insight into the multi-dimensional identity of an individual like Billy Markus, from creator to rapper.
- The role of humor and creativity in fostering connections and community in the digital sphere.
Behind the Mic
Soup Inquiry
Did you make soup? huh. I have no idea. What smells sour? What smells sour? I hope nothing smells sour. No. Why are young? So you're out there. How long are you going to be doing that for? An hour? Thank you. Yeah. Is it hot? Yeah, of course. You cooked? Why is there boiling in here? Yeah, it's really good.
Casual Greetings
What's up, y'all? What's up, y'all? What's up, y'all? Slap me a thumbs up if you could hear me. What's up, Bobacat? What's up? Tukur, alux department. What's up? What's up, everybody? Just give me a few more minutes. And if you guys have your own communities, make sure you spread this in your communities. Your telegrams, stuff like that. Give me a couple minutes. Hopefully. I think Billy is about to pop in here. Hopefully. Your mic is unmuted, by the way. It should be unmuted. Was it not muted before? Was I. Was I saying something that I should know? Was it a hot mic? Was I talking about noodles and shit? Oh, shit.
Technical Setup and Headphones
All right. Just give me a second, y'all, and then we'll get. We'll get Billy up in here. Let me put my headphones on. All right, all right. Approve. Hold on. What up? How are you, brother? I'm good. I. I have a problem. I keep getting caramels from Amazon. Yeah. And you know how it tells you how many times you've bought it before? Yeah. So it was, like, purchased nine times. I'm like, oh, Jesus. Because it was, like. I think I discovered them, like, early last year. It spent, like, 200 something on caramels.
Observations on Spending
Amazon's exposing us all, man. This is a little. Little bit much. They're really good. But I don't think I need to eat this many caramels. Let me eat it right now. This is. This is a great segue, actually, because I think we both kind of feel similarly to the. The balance between convenience versus, like, a technocratic world. Like, I really don't want to live in a technocratic dictatorship, but I enjoy getting caramel sent to my door. Yeah, it's a perfect example of what you just said. So it's like, where do we draw the line between, like, four. Four years ago, me, like, during COVID and all these things? I would. Like. Secretly, I would have been like, screw you, Bezos. I hate you globalist.
Cognitive Dissonance
New world order. And then I'm like, you know what? I really enjoy getting my cat litter sent directly to my house within, like, 12 hours. So where how do you feel on that? Where does that line drawn for you? I'm a lazy consumer whore at it. I've never liked, like, it's one of those things where I'll see something like, you know, the fishing population, like, fish are, like, getting really hard to catch. It's like, oh, that's kind of bad. And then I'll eat some sushi, and I'll like the sushi. So I think. I think I'm just a bad person. I think we are pretty terrible.
Discussion of Time and Influence
Okay, so for those who don't know, man, we only have maybe, like, about an hour. I have a few, like, kind of general questions written down. But I know Billy by, when I say no, I. From the Internet the way I know people from the Internet. I know Billy from 2019. We go way back to. We go way back before the. Yeah, through the Internet. And obviously he already had, you know, created those. 2013. Is that correct? Yeah, 2013. So 2013. And then 2019 is when, at least in my perspective, that's when, like, it started getting super Uber ridiculous, where you had, like, the corporation started coming on board and, like, slim Jim and everything started.
Corporate Influence in Crypto
That's where probably for you, I imagine you can pinpoint where everything really became extremely ridiculous. Right. I think it was a little bit before that it was actually related to Elon when I think the community wanted him to be CEO and he pretended to be CEO for a bit. Right. I think that was 26, 2018. Whatever. It went to, like, a cent, and I was like, what the fuck? Yeah, yeah. So I remember, I believe 2019, I might have touched it. That's when I got in. So when I'm not here to talk about those or prices or any that you already know, I briefed you ahead of time.
Navigating Crypto Discussions
So I'm gonna. I'm gonna bring people in here and, you know, periodically, if there's speakers who want to chime in, I want to, you know, let you guys know ahead of time. Do not come here to show your shit coins. Do not come in here to please. Yeah, I'm not. I'm not using the spaces to promote your coins and stuff like that. So, long story short, I knew Billy or no Billy from 2019. I'm sure that there was people getting involved, but Dogecoin was the first project I kind of got involved with, and obviously I was into bitcoin and xrp and shit like that, but the meme coin popped up.
Reflections on Relationships
I was like, okay, you know, this seems cool. Whatever, whatever, you know, made a solid amount of money. That's not my point. But I ended up befriending, you know, Billy at the time. And that's more valuable, I think. No, it really was. I'm not even joking. Like, not to sound. I don't know if that makes me sound humble or the opposite of humble, but so also, when nfts were popping back in 2020, 2021, Billy was drawing a bunch of nfts and shit, and it was like, just him sketching something in 10 seconds.
Significance of Art
And people were buying up ridiculous amounts of money. And I early on, before. Before a lot of people were bidding. I was bidding, like, whatever, one or two eth at the time, which was like three, four, $5,000, whatever it was, couple thousand dollars. And I obviously had made a significant amount of money on the last run. And I was like, hell, yeah, I want to buy this smiley face from the creator of those points, which I still. I still have one of them.
Art as a Value
I think you might have just sent me one out of a token of appreciation, and that means a lot more to me than I had. I had a board ape for a bit. I had, like, what? I had all that bullshit for a little bit. And to me, your smiley face that you drew is. Is worth a lot more. So I appreciate that. Yeah, a lot of effort. 100%. 100%. So, okay, so, yes, that's the long story short, 2019, actually, Billy and I, too, we used to, like, for a few months. I don't think he's as involved anymore, but were in the trenches together for a few months.
Shared Experiences
This was during the BSC. Like, the finance tokens were going. The binance shitters were going crazy. And so I think we used to, like, just, you know, share each other dumb shit. Like, we're talking, like, really micro cap dumb projects, and he would just share them. I would share them to him, and, like, we would toss $100, and we would see what happened. It was nothing public. We were never doing anything crazy. Not incriminating myself here by any. By any manner. But I just wanted to let you guys know that's. That. That's how.
Creator Reflections
How dope it was at the time to see the creator of Dogecoin, because I know him and Jackson, you guys are very different. I'm not going to. You know, you got. You've answered a million of these questions before, but for the people listening, you and Jackson created this. This token in only a few hours. Dogecoin, and I think he's much more. I mean, you're. You and I are both pretty nihilistic when it comes to things in general. But I think. I think he's. He's much more anti like.
Philosophical Differences
He's like. He's more, like anarchist anti like. Can you explain the difference, I guess, between you guys? I don't. I don't disrespect him at all, but, like, you know, I guess. Explain the difference, like, how he views crypto versus you. I know you kind of view it similarly, but different. Yeah, I think. I mean, I'm not anti crypto, but I think if you're not completely blind, you see that it's mostly a bunch of bullshit from a lot of people.
Cynicism and Hope
Right. Not like the code itself is bullshit. It's like, it works. It's worked for many years. That's pretty cool. It has potential to. I mean, it's really just sending money around. Right. It's like, that has the potential of sending money around in whatever context. Money is pretty useful, but there's a lot of bullshit, a lot of hype, and a lot of whatever. So I'm kind of just more like. I don't know is what it is about it, but I don't have this, like, kind of deep over.
Political Observations
What do you call it? Like, this. This giant overbearing thing of, like, oh, it's actually the worst for the world, and all these things are the worst for the world because there's a lot of things that are terrible for the world. And I think Jackson cares a lot. And, you know, he. He notes things that are griffs and that are crappy all over the place. But I think he's more like left wingy type, where it's like, these are the things that are bad, and then the things that are left wing that are bad or, like, cares about those.
Conclusive Thoughts
Those are fine. This is like. Is what it is. Yeah. Okay. So that makes sense. But that brings me so, once again, having known you air quotes from the 2019. Having known you, I guess, for four or five years, I saw, and I can kind of identify with a similar political shift. You know, I think that you kind of relate, in a sense, to what you're seeing Elon go through, Russell Brand go through.
Life's Changes
You know, guys that have considered themselves. I mean, look, your life is tech. You know, you have a quote unquote regular job. You've. You're in the tech world your whole life. You know, I've considered myself, like, socially liberal my whole life, whatever that means. Accepting gays and legalizing, like, whatever that considered, like, throughout our 30, 40 years on earth, things like that. But it got so ridiculous, so I remember seeing you back in 2019, 2020.
Navigating Social Norms
I'm not gonna say you bit your tongue or anything like that, but you were. You seemed just like everyone else. You were a little bit more hesitant to be, I guess, as vocal with your opinion just for the sake of whatever, maybe your career, your job, your money, your livelihood. I don't know. You know what? Walk me through that transition. Just like. Just like we saw with Elon. Just like, even with me, just like we saw with Russell Brand or the Joe Rogan's of the world.
Perceived Progressive Stances
These guys who have been considered socially liberal, but now they're considered, like, far right extremists, even though they've dedicated their life to ev. They dedicated their life to defi things that are traditionally progressive. So walk me through, like, what that's been, like for you. And when you can, like, kind of pinpoint. Is it. Is it freeing? Like, and when can you pinpoint, you know, what. What happened? Like, what was the final moment?
Self-Reflection
I think, well, if I. If I ever take, like, online tests, I'm still left leaning. So whatever. Like, people will talk shit on the Internet all the time about whatever is like, oh, you maga, blah, blah. I'm like, I'm not Maga. I'm, like, left leaning, like, slight libertarian. I'm, like, pretty slightly left to center. And I think my actual sensibilities of right and wrong haven't really changed since, you know, the late nineties, early two thousands when I was still a teenager.
Evolving Perspectives
So, like, I don't really think I've changed at all for my perspectives other than I understand that taxes are bullshit. Right, right. Like, not. Not all taxes are bullshit, but just, like, the way that they're done and how badly it's run, for sure. And also just kind of noticing, especially in, when you're surrounded by this kind of hyper left bubble, you kind of see how people justify stuff that doesn't work or corruption or just stupid things that obviously won't work, and there's no accountability.
Observations from San Francisco
So it's annoying seeing a my city in San Francisco, like, get worse. Right. And also take a lot of my money. Well, you guys are rich, and you're doing dumb things. It seems like you're just, like, empowering more of what you pretend to want to fix. So it's like, that kind of stuff. I see it, and I'm like, well, that's obviously bad. So when I, like, I'm still coming from a place of, like, I'd like things to better, not that I like, oh, I switched sides, because I don't give a fuck about that.
Desire for Improvement
But it's like, I just like things to better. And if something's bad, no one seems to be speaking out on, quote, my side, unquote, like, so just. Right. Can you open your eyes to this stuff? But so I avoid Zamfam at all costs. I was, I'm from New York, and, you know, I just went back to New York. I also avoid Manhattan at all costs. So it's not really, like, New York, but, like, tell me about San Fran.
Media Influence on Perception
Is it as, like, obviously you could see the Internet, and I'm not going to say, like, you know, we hear the Haitians eat it, we hear all these crazy things. And I'm not saying they do happen or they don't happen. I like to say, like, over the last few years ago, like, I would say that there were, you know, like, the media blows nothing into something, and they also kind of hide things that should be, you know, national news.
Balancing Perspectives
So it kind of goes both ways, you know, so maybe somebody might argue, like, it's not important if, you know, some kid transitioned in a school indiana. Like, I don't really care. And, like, maybe someone can say, like, oh, I don't really care if some haitian dude ate a pigeon in Springfield. Like, I don't really care. So, like, you know, it really depends on how you look at it.
Observations on San Francisco
Or, like, how is it. So I, how do I put this? Like, the Internet image from San Francisco is in a more right circle is pretty overblown, but there are pockets that are just complete dog shit. Like, you go there. Go there. Well, yeah, you can. It's not a violent city, but it's like you'll, you'll get your car broken into, like, kind of wherever you park, you know, probably, there's probably, like, a 5% chance if you park overnight, you'll get your car broken into, which is not very good if you live there. So, like, it's not a safe city in terms of, like, you don't feel great walking around or whatever, but you probably won't get killed.
Crime and Safety
You might just get. Unless you're the cash app creator. The cash app founder. Yeah, but that was something else. Kind of. Kind of a weird situation. But, yeah, in terms of, like, there are people who will say, like, oh, no, it's way over blowing San Francisco. The best place ever. It's like, that's. That's bullshit, too. Like, go to. Go walk on market at night. Like, it's just like fentanyl zombies all over the place. It's like, it doesn't. It feels dirty and gross and just like, go to Japan. You're like, wow, this Tokyo is a beautiful city that has a jillion people, and it's wonderful.
Comparing Cities
And then you go to San Francisco, you're like, why is this place, like, eight times more expensive than Tokyo? It's like using the, like, money to what you get. It's like, probably the worst deal in the entire world, is my opinion, 100%. Do you think it's so. You know, you have capitalism, you have corporate, like, people. You know, people, left wing people, specifically far left wing people. They have been arguing for quite some time that capitalism never works. But it's like, also, we know as, like, logical people who might not consider themselves left or right, whatever. It's like, obviously, like, communism doesn't work either, nor does socialism, like, so looking at Japan, looking at some of these asian countries that, like you said, are extremely clean, there.
Hidden Issues in Other Cultures
There is like, a secret, like, homelessness and like, a whole, like, black, right? Yeah, there's some fucked up stuff. There's actually some. Some is wrong. There is a lot of fucked up stuff that. Yeah, like, it exists. But do you see? So, for example, I live in Orlando, and I think this. They're trying to turn, you know, they just did, like, a billion dollar. And by they, I mean me, because we're paying it, obviously. So I'm like, I was like, they're. They're paying a billion. I'm like, wait a minute. No, they're not. So, yeah, so I just paid about a billion dollars for the Orlando.
Improvements and Infrastructure
Orlando airport to start turning into, like, one of these nicer airports. And it looks pretty cool. Whatever, whatever. They have the bright line and they're trying to make all these things happen because, like, you know, transportation has sucked ass in America, obviously, for a long time. Do you see America ever becoming something like that? Do you? Like, I'm not going to say, like, oh, american corruption is less bad than japanese or more bad. Like, I think human nature. Like, in general, it doesn't matter if you're north korean or you're whatever. There's going to be a lot of corruption within government, obviously.
Concerns About Future Directions
So where do you see America going? As far as tech, as far as travel, far as, like, shit like that. So socially, you know, do. Is San Fran ever gonna be, you know, like, really nice? Or is it just, are we. Are we stuck? Like. Like, are we. Are we headed more towards, like, a third world nation, or are we headed more towards, like, a dystopian, utopian, type of Japan situation? I think I feel like the best of anything is temporary.
Cultural Reflections
Like, I feel more like things are more like a sine wave where they're good sometimes and they're less good other times and nothing's ever perfect. So, you know, kind of like what you're saying with Japan being there's, like, hidden costs, everything there's hidden costs to their culture, which is also an amazing culture to visit. And, like, people take a lot of pride in, you know, making things look nice and. And making their city look nice, but there's a lot of hidden costs. The work culture is not something I would want to be a part of. The social culture between men and women is all fucked up.
Japanese Cultural Dynamics
Just like, you are japanese, you're half japanese. Like, yeah, japanese, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, I would love to live in Japan, like, three months out of the year, something like that, because it's a wonderful place, but, you know, I would probably never be fully accepted there just because I'm not a pure blood. Okay, so how about. So, okay, that's a. That's a question I wanted to bring up. So people love. So, once again, going back to left wing, America's the most racist. It's the most terrible.
Racism and Empathy
I think that America is actually the most empathetic because our racist people, quote unquote racists, are willing to argue that they're not racist. You understand what I'm saying? So it's like, it's funny when people. And when I say racist, they're not actually, someone said to me recently, they're like, oh, you think you're not racist because you have black friends? I'm like, yeah, because a racist person wouldn't have black friends. It's like, it's kind of pretty simple if you think about it. And, you know, so thinking of Japan and a lot of these other cultures, it's pretty like, no one's on the defense of, like, that's it just embedded in the culture.
Cultural Acceptance and Identity
You're either. You're either us or you're not. See, you know, there's some african countries that are like this, even european countries, you know? So what do you. What do you say about. Obviously, I know what you're going to say. These people are idiots. But from your perspective of living, of having been to Japan, having traveled, I imagine, in many countries, what do you think about these people who, you know, America's the most racist? Racist? Racist?
Cultural Comparisons
Like, if we're so racist, why are we constantly saying, no, no, we're not racist. I promise. Like, we're not. We're nothing. Not bigots. We're not. You know what I mean? Like, even our worst people are defending how not bad they are, and that doesn't happen elsewhere. So what do you think about that? It's pretty complicated because I think in, like, Japan, I wouldn't like the racism of what, like, people think in America as racist is not.
Racism in Japan
That's not what they're doing. It's more. It's more xenophobic. It's more like class, kind of. It's just like, you're an outsider. You don't understand our customs. You're gonna wreck our culture even if you speak Japanese. I mean, it's. It's better. It's much better if you speak Japanese. But it's like, if, like, imagine the US was actually super nice, right? And it was because of many years of history, of culture, and then you have, like, stupid foreigners come in and, like, not respect your customs and, you know, just be rude all the time and, like, not understand.
Cultural Integration
Not integrate properly. Right. It's like, I don't understand why you do things like this. So I'm gonna, like, reject it and make fun of you. And it's like, you don't do that here. So it's kind of like that. It's like, you know, Japan kind of sees it more as, like someone's coming to your house and wearing shoes and getting mud all over the place where it's like, don't. Don't do that. But it's not, like, overtly, like, because of your skin color. I don't like you. It's just like a. More of a distrust feeling or, like, we really care about maintaining our culture.
Diversity and Cultural Value
And the US is more, you know, they always say it's a melting pot of cultures, but, you know, I mean, it isn't like New York, right? It certainly is. But I saw you tweet something recently. So this. This goes back to what I asked you kind of a few minutes ago. This would have been considered, you know, even what you said, like, this is where the culture shifting so much. So, like, you have.
Cultural Shifts
You have. You have black people talking about the border now. It used to just be considered, like, a southern, white american racist thing. Just like guns. Like, this was propaganda for decades that, you know, the left wing pushing. So you brought up something recently where it was like, you know, it come. If you're going to come to America to benefit America, benefit the economy, benefit, which sounds like such a logical thing.
Immigration and Assimilation
But like I said, you know, just a decade ago, even. Even discussing this as anybody who's perceived as white would have been considered racist. I obviously agree with you. So it's kind of the same as you said, Japan. It's like, if you're going, I think the issue with America, like you just said, is there's no necessarily, like, there's no identity of America.
Cultural Identity
Obviously, we have an identity to some degree as far as freedom, as far as guns, as far as sports, NFL, you know, whatever. Beer, whatever you want. I don't know how you want to chalk up America to a few words, but we have some american culture. I think that the most people's issue, and we're having this discussion now on the main stage, whether it's Elon or me or even you, is like, if you're going to come to America just like anywhere else, come through the legal process and benefit us, you know, we need more doctors.
Legal Immigration and Benefits
We need more, you know, scientists, lawyers. We need people that are, maybe not lawyers, but we need people that are going to benefit the economy, benefit the overall, and we can't throw out the constitution. We can't throw out history. We can't throw out these things. So what do you think the difference is between, like, why is it considered okay to expect people to assimilate to Russia or assimilate to Japan, but in America, it's a hot subject.
Cultural Differences in Assimilation Expectations
What do you think the difference is and. Or do you think it's changing? There's a lot to unpack. I think. I guess the, I'll start with just a negative overall thought. And my perspective is that I hate entitlement. I, like, absolutely have horror entitled people and the way entitled People act and whatever.
Concerns with Immigration
So I thought what was happening in New York was fucking terrible when there was a lot of asylum seekers that came in. Right. And the presumption of asylum seeker is you're seeking a better life, but the entitlement of, like I am here, I don't think these living quarters that are free and provided for me and the food that is free and provided for me are good enough was like, what the fuck? This is ridiculous.
Issues with Government Support
There's people that actually pay taxes that are, like, living worse than you. And so, like, that kind of stuff annoyed the shit out of me. And, you know, it's also, like, I think entitlement is, you know, the antithesis of, like, providing value because you're taking. Right? You're not. You're not giving. So I think the other problem is population decline and capitalism, because one of the primary facets of capitalism is exponential growth, always forever.
Challenges with Population Growth
And that is difficult to maintain without population growth because, you know, you get weird problems, like Japan is going to have and Korea is going to have very soon or already having, where there's a big older population that has to be propped up by a, you know, the workforce that's a lot younger and smaller. So we need immigration. We. We're not having kids at a high rate, or we need to have lots of kids, like, one of the two.
Call for Immigration Reform
And it seems like the developed countries are not having children, which is another big topic of complicated stuff. So, like, we need immigration to keep America strong, but it'd better to not have entitled immigrants and to have immigrants that want to be here. And especially, you know, working in tech, you get a lot of people that have all these visa issues and stuff that they're really good employees.
Visa Issues and Hiring
And it's like, why the fuck is this so hard? Like, this is so stupid. This is a great employees here. He's doing really good work and he wants to be here. Why can't we keep him here? Why does he have to, like, worry every x amount of time? This is so stupid. So it just needs to be reformed in a way that makes sense, that's consistent with the goal of, you know, continuing the population, continuing to keep America strong and not fucking up the culture any more than it already is.
Cultural Integrity
But, you know, we've done a shitty job of the culture ourselves already, 100%. Okay, so you've seen. You've seen doge in the craziest places. Obviously, you can answer this, but would you say that snl was the craziest thing to happen? Like, what was the craziest pinpoint of seeing Doge? I didn't. Well, so during that time period, SNL was.
Doge Moment
How do I put it? It was, like, going up so fast that, like, I've seen the past, right? So I know at some point it crashes. And so I was more just, like, stressed out. And people are gonna blame you. Yeah, they're gonna blame me and send me death threats again. And I gotta be in this fucking shit again. So when SNl came out, I actually got, like, a panic attack and my.
Impact on Mental Health
My vision went out. I mean, it's not unfunny, but it was just like, it was, like, annoying. I couldn't watch it because I couldn't see. Like, my. My vision was all messed up and then, you know, crash after that, so I was like, well, crashed a little faster than I expected, but okay. But I think the craziest place I ever saw Dogecoin was actually the show love is blind, like, netflix show, and this, like, I saw it.
Unexpected Appearances
I saw it. I know I'm gonna act like I didn't watch it. I know what you're talking about. Yeah, yeah, this, like, there's this, like, kind of, like, bro, douchey guy, and he said he invested in Dogecoin. I'm like, that's the big win for you. Like, yeah. Or it was, like, on the Simpsons, I think. Stuff like that, you know, like, obviously, the Elon stuff became so consistent that you got more immune to it.
Doge in Pop Culture
But obviously, the first time someone pays attention like that who's, like, a celebrity, you're like, that's funny. My little stupid thing is, like, made a dent in culture, man. Yeah. Okay, so, yeah, that's what the love is blind thing. Yeah, no, I watched that show for, like, a season, and me and my wife, we kind of. We established that as soon as we had our first baby, we're not gonna watch, like, terrible, like, smut garbage in the house.
Personal Boundaries on Media Consumption
So, yeah, that was kind of one of the last things I watched, for sure. But, yeah, that's funny. It's like, you know, you have SNL, you have all these things, and you're, like, just sitting there, like, in your Hondura watching love is mine. You're like this guy who's gonna fall off in three months from now. You know, I'm at least. At least. I'm super excited that he brought up Dogecoin on this show that everyone's also going to forget about. So how do you feel about this? And do you think it's.
Speculating About Impact
First of all, I think it's extremely possible. I think. I think Elon's been talking about it for a while. You know what I'm going to ask. Obviously, this. The department, the government, is that possible? Do you think it's possible that he's going to actually get in and Trump's going to bring him into his cabinet? And if that's the case, is does Elon have the control to actually dictate the name of the Doge acronym?
Potential Outcomes
That would be pretty amusing if it happens. Would that be. That would be. There's nothing to that tops that. I mean, like, the doge to the moon, like, actual DOJ. The moon is pretty cool. Anything with space is cool. If he can make the. I think the idea of a kind of someone who can, like, say, is this government program actually working?
Need for Accountability
Are we just wasting money? Seems to be missing anyway, so it seems like that's useful. It's weird, because if you go on Reddit, you would think the guy in Argentina just nuked the country and ran it to the ground. But, like, if you look at what's going on, it seems like it's doing much better than when they had 700% inflation, right? So I think, like, I don't know. I don't know any Argentinians or talk to them, but it seems like they elected him and he's doing what he said he was going to do, so they like it.
Perception of Leadership
But from the, like, weird american perspective, from certain people is like, oh, he's Satan. He's the worst human ever, and he's destroying the world. So I don't think that way. I think the government does need to have accountability. That would be good. And if Elon can bring it or at least a little more business sense to some of the stuff they're doing, that would be great. I don't know if it'll happen.
Future Perspectives
So, you know, I'm one of those people that doesn't like to project too optimistically, because then I'll get disappointed. But I don't want to be like, my dad. My dad, like, he always projects, like, hyper pessimistically, so he's either right or happy. Or less upset. Yeah, yeah. So I don't be like that, but it's more of a, like, if it happens, that'd be funny.
The Journey of Accomplishments
I think that nothing. So for me, like, I've. You know, I've done sold out shows. I have music with Wiz Khalifa. I have, like, I've done a lot. Like, for somebody who's, like, relatively unknown, like, I've done a lot of cool things that are cool to me, but it's also. It's also funny because people only forget, like, what you've done, like, the last. In the last minute. Like, so, for example, like, when I did the record with Wiz Khalifa, like, my family was, like, so excited. Then, like, two weeks later, they're like, what's next? And I'm just like. Like, it took me so long. My whole career, I built up to this one song. Like, it's not my biggest. I did well, whatever. But the reason I bring that up is I also. I performed on this. This was during COVID and mandates and things like that. This is when someone like you or me or Russell Red. This is when people like, started kind of questioning like a lot more things, I guess, like bureaucratically.
A Historic Performance
And I performed on the steps of the Lincoln memorial. And that to me, no matter how big, you know, no matter like, that's where MLK did his I have a dream speech. There was like 50,000 people out there. Bobby Kennedy was out there. It was like rabbis and preachers and Nation of Islam and Jews. And you had BLM flags and you had trump maga hats. And it was like the most, you know, obviously Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon went on tv and they were like, this is a right way wing extremist. The million germ march they were calling it. And they were like saying, we're spread. There's a super spreader during COVID But the reason I bring that up was, you know, for me, the highlight was, you know, performing there. No matter, honestly, I don't think anything's going to ever get bigger than that. And that's, I think that this the same thing. I hope it happens, you know, for the sake of just the meme world we live in. And I think you've seen crazy things happen. SNL, Simpsons, the love is blind guy being obviously the number one thing to ever have. Obviously, this is way more important than anything else.
Thoughts on Political Figures
You know, it's like, I think that still might, you know, kind of peak at number one. But I think having the department of the doge whatever, it's like having that in government be an official thing and people actually going in there. So you have Bobby Kennedy on the health aspect, you have elon on the economic aspect, and you have Trump also kind of on the economic aspect. It's like, how can, in my opinion, once again, not shilling for republicans here, not chilling for Trump. This is not a Trump 2024. I'm not doing. I never have gone and told anyone to vote for anybody. I really don't care if you vote. Like, I'm not like one of those people that's, you know, I'm a Taylor swift, like getting, you know, something telling you guys to vote. But, you know, I guess. Do you like, I've never been, I never voted. I mean, I voted Trump last time. I never considered myself republican. I never considered myself conservative.
Historical Collaboration
But, like, when I see a guy like Bobby Kennedy coming together with a guy like Elon Musk coming together with a guy like Trump, like, I don't know how people don't look at that as historical. What's your opinion on, like, this. This. This marvel teaming up this avengers of, like, of, like, politics? What's it? What do you care? Like, what do you think? But I guess I would say I like when people do things rather than they say they'll do things. Sure. I'm always a very, like, I'll believe when I see it. I don't mind hearing ideas that seem good, but I kind of hold my judgment until we can see the results. And, you know, someone like Elon has obviously done a lot of results. He also, like, hypes up a lot of stuff that has to be delayed and stuff.
The Challenge of Expectations
So sometimes he is overly optimistic about what can be done in certain timeframes. And especially with politics, I think, like, our political system seems pretty dysfunctional, so it might be hard to make really positive change, but, like, other than, like, a company where you have, like, way more control. So I like the concepts of these things, and I think they deserve to be done, but whether or not it's going to make the world better in aggregate or just, you know, make paint more of a target on people and have, you know, the big media machine try to send their own narrative that destroys everything. Like, I don't. I don't really know what. What could happen, right? No, I'm similar as far. As. I'm even similar in an aspect of what you just explained, like, having.
The Reality of Development
And I think you are, too, in a sense of, like, you know, especially being in the NFT world, the crypto world, you know, the last few years, the last couple runs, you know, it's being very excited. As a creative guy, I'm always like, we're gonna develop this, and it's only gonna take this. You know, I'm so new to developing stuff in general. I've been developing a video game for a while. I have no idea about, you know, block coding. I have no idea about any actual tech side of stuff. I'm just, like, one of these creative nut jobs that, similar to Elon, was like, we're gonna send something to space, and it's only gonna blah. And then you realize, okay, things actually have to go into this. And there's real, like, you know, red tape that you have to cut through and stuff like that.
The Implications of Quick Success
But I could totally relate to. You're going to have to wait and see, especially when it comes to bureaucracy. Nothing. Nothing is quick, no matter how trump no taxes on this. It's like, sometimes you don't even get to see stuff until they're their last year in office, and then it doesn't even take effect. And then by the time it does, you know, the other person undoes it. Undoes it, undoes it. Yeah. And it's like, I want to give Elon a lot of credit, or people like him a lot of credit, though, or even what you're talking about, where it's like, if you have the ambition and at least some ability to execute or the entire ability to execute, you're at least pushing things forward in an interesting direction rather than making derivative stuff that has already been done.
Innovative Contributions
Because most of Elon's stuff that he set out to do is actually crazy. And even something like Starlink, wherever I was on a plane to Hawaii, I got Internet that was just as fast as my home cable Internet, and I was floored. I was like, I'm in an airplane, and the Internet doesn't suck. And this is, oh, like, why does it suck? Oh, it's Starlink. Okay. Like, that's amazing. And that's worldwide. Like, I can live in some remote area and get really good Internet. That's actually, like, mind blowingly cool, right? So, like, you know, it takes people that don't think kind of, like, inside the box to push things forward. And, you know, someone who's also not thinking inside the box and also executing is very rare.
The Eclectic Nature of Ideas
You get, you know, Elizabeth Holb types who, like, I think, you know, this two drops of blood should work. And it's like, that actually doesn't work because of science. It's like, oh, shit. Well, I'll just keep pretending and eventually maybe it'll work. You know, like, you get that kind of stuff. So sure, if people have a track record of success, like, that's. And an ambition, that's very impressive. So, yeah, okay, so I don't have too many, too. That's like, kind of the politics side of things. So you can take a deep breath. You don't have to worry. No one's, no one's canceled? Canceled? Yeah. No, I don't think canceling even exists anymore.
Separating Online and Real Life
Okay. So that, I mean, this kind of segues into this point of, so you have a once again, quote, unquote, like, you have a regular job that you go into work and you do things. I don't know if you go into work, maybe you from home, whatever. But, like, you have a, like a, you know, a job prior to dogecoin and obviously post dogecoin. So how has that been? You know, do people in your real life, do they bring it up. Do they know it? Do you bring it up? Is it kind of just swept under the rug? Like, how does that balance, you know, is there any balance necessary? And was it tougher at first? And, like, how often does it come up in your daily life?
Establishing Boundaries
I purposely separate it pretty hard. So, like, people know, but, like, I. I'll talk about it, but, like, I don't like my Internet life. I try to separate as much from my regular life as possible just because, like, I. I would want to be able to just turn off x at any point in time. Just delete my account and have a normal life. Right. Like, if I wanted to, this. I don't want to make this my life. So it's pretty compartmentalized for me. Sure. I know when, like, back in the day, like, the reason I'm so boundary making now is because people were so awful back in 2013 and, you know, trying to manipulate me and just being fucking assholes all the time when.
The Responsibility of Creation
When I was trying to do the right thing, I was like, I made this thing, I feel responsible for it. Right. And then at some point I'm like, you know, fuck you guys. This is, like, it's not even for my benefit. This is for your benefit. And you're just, like, acting like a dictator and there's, like, a lot of people like that. And it was really disgusting. So when all this stuff was happening again, I decided to come back to Twitter at the time, and I was more like, I'm going to be very well. First of all, people were, like, spamming my email and it was really annoying. But it's just like, okay, like, I'll do this, but, like, I have to set some really strong boundaries this time.
Maintaining Online Engagement
Sure. So, yeah, that's how I've approached it. And, you know, eventually I might mold in my real life more to online, but at the moment, it's like, if I can keep it separated, that seems preferable. Yeah, no, 100%. I mean, you, we can tell, like, you're obviously not, you're not angry at, like, the fact that you're on here and you have conversations like, you're. You don't regret or resent having created dogecoin. I'm sure at some point, like you said, it was probably, and I think a lot of developers, you know, I've never created anything that went to multibillion dollar market cap.
Navigating Toxicity
But once again, I've been in this space. I know how toxic it could be. I've literally given, I'm talking probably six figures where just you're giving it just to please people who are angry and upset with markets and time. And you're developing something for so long, it takes longer than you expected. And you're just like, I remember the last run when it came to nfts and I literally emptied my wallet out. I gave it away. You could see everything on blockchain. And still after that, people were like, kill yourself. Like, you know, this is why people scam people. This is why people are scammers. It's because, like, you're gonna get treat like there's no room for being a good guy probably in life in general, but especially on the Internet and especially in this space.
Gratitude for Engagement
But I'm, first of all, we, I appreciate, and I'm sure a lot of people appreciate the fact that you're willing to still sit down and have these conversations and not totally, you know, obviously, you might compartmentalize, you know, in real life, but as far as, like, you're still, you're still, you're still pretty damn cool about, like, what you did. You know what I mean? Like, maybe behind closed doors you might hate it and get upset about these things, but I think most of us truly appreciate you kind of being online with us. Like, you. You truly, I mean, you might not feel this way. It's tough, too, especially when you're a humble dude.
Impact and Legacy
In general. We, I mean, you are an Internet legend, brother. Like, I know you might not realize it today, but, you know, what you created is for better or worse. I'm sure you feel that way. What you created, for better or worse, has literally changed the Internet as we know it. And that brings me to my next point of where are we forgetting, you know, crypto. Yes. Bull run. Yes. I know you kind of pay attention here and there. I'm not asking you about where we are in that regard, but where are we? It's funny, because if you go to Dex tools now, it's still dog coins, bro.
The Enduring Influence of Dogecoin
No matter what, no matter how many trump coins pop up, no matter how many, you know, like, recently, they try to, like, once the dogecoin died, like, they start, they're like, oh, this was the dogecoins cousins, dogs uncle's friend. We got to create a dog around that one. And so if you go now, it doesn't matter. You like, what you did is so historic that no matter what new meta or category pops up, everyone still wants to go create the next dog coin. Like what? Like, what do you feel about that? Like, do you know, can you grasp, possibly, forget SNL, forget the Love island guy. Can you, can you grasp how historic, you know, like, of a change you've made, you understand?
Understanding the Origins
It's probably not possible to grasp and. Well, it's an extension of what doge was made for in the first place because Doge was made to make fun of all the stupid shit, right? But it, back 2013, but it was like, 2013 was just a bunch of stupid shit where. But it was like, overly self serious. So, like, right now they're just meme anything. And it's like, you know, Billy posted a picture of his pinky make, right, Billy's pinky coin, and there'd be like 13 of them. You're like, okay, like, whatever. So. And they throng on other people and do that stuff too.
Cycles of Innovation
So whatever is going on right now is, like, obviously stupid. But what was going on back then was also stupid. It just, like, wasn't as frequent because it took technical knowledge to write this stuff. And, yeah, but then it was, like, overly serious. Like, everything was like, oh, this is gonna change finance. Like, this world coin is gonna change blower. This is. Well, and, like, they would just try to talk it up. It was all bullshit. So those was just making fun of that because it's like, oh, look, you can do whatever. You can have nothing.
Reflections on the Evolution
You have a meme on a coin and it could get popular or it's just as shitty or good as anything else. Would you say, like, if I'm sorry to cut you out, would you say, I don't want to say it backfired, but would you, like, if you had to assess it and be like, okay, so were here to make fun of things, obviously. I'm not saying that backfired. You know, you got the job done. Most people who know you understand the backstory of those. But, like, things like you just mentioned, I'm not saying that you created these things. I'm not, like, trying to put all this burden on you, for the record.
Understanding the Moment
I promise you I'm not. But just the moment in time where you came and where we are now or where your dad came back. No, I'm just kidding. Okay, so where you came, 2013, you created this project. And, you know, now you have things like pump fun. Like you just said, you need absolutely no technical, you know, understanding of contracts or anything. Smart contracts. You don't even need to pay. Like, I think that pump fund just did something recently, and I'm not chilling.
A Cautionary Note
I have no deal with them. I would never suggest anybody go to pump fund at all. In fact, I would encourage you to not go to fund. So I'm going to tell you right now, do not go over there and do something. So I'm going to tell you the opposite. So you just so you know, I'm not getting paid to promote that. I am going to tell you not to do that. Okay? So I don't even think you need to even pay now to launch a coin. It actually goes to the first buyer of the coin. So it, like, there's always a new ridiculous way to.
The Evolution of Coin Launches
You can literally launch a coin for $0. Now, what's your opinion on. On how ridiculous it's become where, like you said, last run and the previous run, I mean, maybe a coin popped up every day. I used to be in a discord that would, like, do at everyone, and it was like, every hour, every couple hours. And, like, maybe it was somewhere honey pots and you would ape an Ethan at the time and, like, you would. You would get your shit stolen or you would ape a BNB in, but now it's literally hundreds of thousands of coins every second dropping.
Anticipating Ridiculousness
Did you ever anticipate that? And what's your opinions on how ridiculous it's become and where, like, can and get more ridiculous? I don't understand. Yeah, I would say, yes, I did anticipate this. Like, I would say that if even back in 2013, people are making this stuff easier and easier. And I. Never mind people who know that it's retarded. Like, if you know that it's stupid, right? And you're just trying to like it, essentially you're playing poker where it's like, well, I want to dump on you before you dump on me.
The Nature of Market Dynamics
Right? The people that are in this thing, they, like, the people that know the game, they like, they're just playing this game against each other because money doesn't go from nothing. It's like it's just being sent around. And the. The only real winner is the tax man who, unless you're cheating, will get half of what you've earned, right? So, like, that is what it is. And people are gonna do that forever if they can. Like, that's. They have done it. It's, like, very easy to see. But I just don't like when people are so stupid that they can't take responsibility for their own thing.
Taking Responsibility for Actions
It's like, I gamble in this thing. Like, oh, what? The dev scam? Just like the dev scammed every time. Like, you know, the fool me once. Shame on me, fool me twice, shame on you, or whatever. Like, yeah, at this point, every fucking time, the dev exit scams, like, of a hundred thousand tokens a day. So you need to figure that out. Like, if you're not, you're just stupid. You shouldn't. You shouldn't even write.
Discussion on Responsibility and Consequences
You deserve to get your shit stolen. You're just stupid. Like, you're going into the middle of the subway in New York and throwing money on the ground and being like, I wonder if anyone's gonna take it, right? Leave it here. And then someone takes you, like, what the fuck? Why did you take my money that was on the ground? It's just like, you're dumb. Like, don't. Don't play this game that you're losing. Like, and don't blame people for playing the game better than you. Like, you're trying to do that. That's your goal. Your goal is to be the asshole that takes other people. You're always pretty upfront about that. It's like you're angry because you didn't get out of time. You didn't get to be the person who upsets somebody else. I constantly remind people. I mean, I saw you do it recently where someone's like, I made millions of dollars. You replied to them, you're like, congrats for taking someone else's money before they could take it from you or something.
Perspectives on Cryptocurrency and Value
Yeah, they got mad. They're like, well, I'm like, let's say how it works. Like, and they were like, trying to say. They're like, well, it's the same as stocks and blah, blah. They were trying to like, bullshit. Meme coins are not the same as stock. They won't retain value other than like, the top, like five, those somehow or whatever. They, like, one thing finally enters the zeitgeist. But, like, if you're just gambling on, like, someone's toad that they post on the Internet, it's not going to retain value. It's going to be a pump and dump. So, okay, I asked you this before. I don't think maybe I've asked you. I don't know. So I think, I mean, I know. I appreciate this. I'm sure a lot of people maybe who have thought of this or not. So you easily being the, like, I mean, there arguably, there is not a more famous, like, obviously you have cZ, you have these, you have Vitalik, you have these people that, you know, I guess, I don't want to say legitimate, but they created you know, these projects and these chains that they're attempting to do something legitimate, whereas you created dogecoin as a joke to make fun of a lot of these, you know, the prod, these blockchains and projects in just a few hours.
Reflections on Morality and Financial Gains
So I bring this up to you. So, so you are a legend in regards to meme coins, in regards to where a lot of this money is actually moving and going around to, my question to you is, and I kind of know, I mean, the answer is because you're a good guy. But is there something deeper? Like, you know, whether it's religion, whether it's some moral compass, like, why like, something, you have to have something because you can run off with $100 million in a week. Right? Now, obviously, you told me once, you're like, oh, because it's illegal. But, like, we, most people don't care. That doesn't stop people. Like, like, sec is not going to care as long as they get their money. My question to you would be, why are you so, why are you such a decent guy that you're not playing into any of this bullshit when you know very well, you cat, where does it stem from? Like, where does. I'm not asking you to say, oh, I'm such a morally high guy. You don't have to, like, tell me how good you are.
Navigating Legality and Ethical Decisions
But, you know, like, do you agree that you could easily, you know, this, like, you know this in the backyard? We all do. We're all humans. Like, I know right now I can run off with relative to my size, I can pump it up, all my YouTube fans, my audience, the same shit Jake Paul did, I could do whatever to whoever, and it's like, and I know the SEC is not gonna care, but I just know deep down that even though some people might think that I did something because of x, y and z, although I've tried not to, like, everyone's gonna get blamed for something. That's not my point. My point is, like, I know in the back of my head I can run off with a lot of money by not really caring. But, like, for me, like, I have a religious value. I have values, you know, I mean, so, like, where do you have, I know you have that. Where does it come from? And, like, have you thought of that in general? Like, that whole process? Maybe it's more pragmatic, I guess.
Pragmatism in Ethical Choices
Like, I don't want to do anything illegal that's, like, actually illegal because a lot of people don't care. Or, like, borderline where I'm like, well, that seems like it's like, maybe I won't get prosecuted for that, but that doesn't seem like something that people should do, because it's, you know, it's like. It's like speeding, like, 150 miles an hour rather than, you know, 80 miles an hour. It's like, you can probably do a little bit, but not, like, go. So do you. Is it more of a legalistic thing for you or a moral thing or both? No, it's more pragmatic in that everything. Everything has a cost. So, like, you know, if you decide, like, just look at MKB. Was it Marcus, bro? Yeah, the. The tech reviewer guy. Right, right. Yeah. He wanted to do something he thought was cool, and then I don't know all the details of why it was made the way it was, but it came off as greedy.
The Cost of Ambition
Right. And so there's a huge cost of that to probably his own psyche of, like, you know, I just tried to do something cool, but, you know, like. The wallpaper app, that's. Yeah. Like, my cost structure was out of touch. And, you know, he was trying to. Probably trying to help his friends or people he knows who make art and stuff. Sure. Along with it, but there's just, like, a big cost to it. So it's like, well, you don't. You want to do something that's win, right? Like, if he just released some cool thing, then, like, everyone be like, oh, neat. But, like, you know, it was kind of like, oh, well, you can make some money from it. You can also, like, help people who are artists. And, like, all this thing wound up in this, like, thing that was pretty unwanted and unpopular, and there's a cost.
Consequences of Financial Decisions
So you can be Jake, Paul, and. And you scam all your. Everything all the time. Right. But, you know, it's like, there's a cost. Sure. And if he can live with that, you know, whatever, he can feel good, but, you know. Right. Not make sense. I'm the same way, man. And I don't know, I think that maybe you just have a soul. Somebody actually just wrote that to me. They're like, his. The answer he's not saying is because he has a soul. I'm like, that's a pretty simple answer. So if it's cool with you, I led a few speakers in here. Once again, I want to remind you people, please do not, if you have a project, or if you are promoting a project, please do not show anything. Assuming.
Engaging with the Community
Billy, are you okay to take a few questions or. No, yeah, I do have a hard stuff at one, but sure. Yeah, that's perfect. That's perfect. We'll make sure that everyone has a minute to that. I also have to get out of here, so. Yeah. So let's go to my good friend Alux for everybody listening. I do have. I do work on a video game, and I do create content for this specifically. I'm not shilling it, but I had them in earlier, so Alux, man, keep it. Keep it. Obviously to Billy and Dogecoin. What's up, guys? Awesome conversation so far. I got two questions. One's for you, Rez.
Origins of Dogecoin
You said you're not Taylor Swift, but are you sure you're not Taylor Swift? Because I've had my suspicions. I mean, you've never seen us two in the same rooms, obviously, so. I never seen you two in the same room. And I saw you dress up in the two plus two music video. Striking resemblances there. And I'm definitely a Kelsey fan, so. Yeah, for sure. Hey, Billy, awesome conversation here, man. You're a legend. Like, you know, we all love the lore, you know, of crypto and of meme coins and everything. So shout out to you, just a couple, like, basic questions for you. Number one, you. I'm sure you've told this story many times, but, like, the guys that you created doge with were those, like, people you knew in real life or, like, Internet friends or both or whatever. Like, how did that.
Developing Relationships and Evolution
How did that kind of get started? No, it was just a, like, Jackson made a website and then I saw it because someone linked it on a. Like, people were freaking out because bitcoin prices were going down. I was freaking out, too, because I had, like, ten and I was like, what's going on? And then they're like, you know, china something, because it's always that. And someone like dogecoin.com. and I just made bells that failed. And I was like, oh, I know how to make crypto coins. And I thought it was funny. I was like, oh, this. This isn't actually made. So I just made it and then contacted him. Essentially all that happened.
Evolving Connections
And he lived in Australia, so I didn't, like, ever meet him until much later. Nice. Are you still, like, you know, maintaining relationships with any of those guys, or you guys kind of went your separate ways? And the second part of that one is, are you still involved with Doge at all, or are you just kind of an observer now? No, I mean, went separate kind of the early discussion with high resume where Jackson is, like, completely anti elon, anti capitalism, anti cryptocurrency, anti anything not progressive. So it's, you know, like, we don't have that much in common to talk about, but I think, oh, shoot.
Perspective on Project Evolution
What was the other part of the question? Doge is obviously, like, a really successful project that's living on. Are you still involved in any way? Are you just a supporter or observer? I'm a bystander at this point. Like, I have some that people have sent to me, which I'm very appreciative of. I don't generally buy cryptocurrency, so when people send it to me, that's how I get it. Or I sell something in cryptocurrency. But, yeah, I'm just a community member who made the thing. And, like, you know, if anyone, like, I'm sure, like, you know, Jack Dorsey feels some ownership of Twitter even.
Reflections on Ownership and Responsibility
Well, yeah, I think he has actual ownership of Twitter still. But just, you know, when you start something, it's like, there's something that you feel indebted to, but I don't feel responsible for it at this point. Yeah, 100%. Yo, I see ma five, MAU five. If you have a question, brother, go ahead and unmute yourself. I'm not sure if you're still here or not. Yeah, I'm here, man. Definitely a great space. Billy known you for a long time as well, man.
Technology and Community Perspective
So, like, my question, like you said, like, it was built as a joke and stuff, but obviously, like, over the years, like, the integration and the technology is steadily advancing. Right? Like, you just talked about, like, how meme coins, you know, like, are only surviving, like, off the hype and things of that nature, right, because it runs off the culture. Right. And it runs in there. But, like, now the technology has come out with, like, the brand new 404 is where they're utilizing both aspects of the NFT side and the meme coin side to keep them balanced.
The Future of Blockchain Technology
So, like, technology is evolving to where you can actually build and utilize true community driven projects or even for, like, the future of utilizing blockchain technology, either for, like, healthcare or for DMV records and things of that nature. Like, we're, like, barely touching the scope of where blockchain technology can go. So my question to you would be, like, in the future, where do you actually see, like, the potential of blockchain technology going and how it could affect the world? So I guess to back up a little bit, I would say the best jokes understand the topic, like, very deeply.
Understanding the Blockchain Landscape
Like, you can make fun of something, but if you don't really understand the topic, then it's not going to be that funny because you're just surface level making fun of it. So in that way, Doge was always a legitimate cryptocurrency that, you know, is based off litecoin and all those other things, which is based off bitcoin. So it's running the same code as bitcoin. Essentially it's just running a very like a slightly different algorithm and it outputs more tokens because the decibels move around. But you can also change that in both bitcoin and Dogecoin by just making a pull request and convincing the miners to change it.
Potential of Memecoins
So like it's really just the same thing. So if you think bitcoin is cool, then dogecoin is cool in my opinion. But in terms of like where it can go, it's a little bit hard because blockchain itself is a write only database that is protected by distributed people like verifying it all the time. And that's kind of all it is. So when people talk about functions of blockchain, most of the time they're talking about stuff that would better off just as a regular database. And the blockchain adds nothing to it except maybe adds a level of token gambling, which you can do without a blockchain. So you know, there's applications to that kind of thing.
NFTs and Their Future
And ledger is a record, so there's applications to having a record forever of something. The reason why I liked NFTs was I thought of it like virtual ownership. And as a player of mmorpgs, I like the idea of being able to have an item and like keep that item and be able to sell that item to other people and having a record of that in certain ways. And that's where I saw the potential. But you know, I think a lot of stuff is just really overblown for, and a lot of stuff is both overblown and hyped up by people that don't have a deep understanding of what the tech really is.
Skepticism of Trends
So a lot of stuff I just kind of see as hype 100%. I also agree as far as I know you have to go here in a minute or two. I also agree as far as I thought NFTs and I think they still might get to that point. True ownership over assets like in video games and shit like that, where you can, you know, a new season pops up and you really don't have access that skin or that gun or that whatever. And then people are reselling it, you know, there's a whole. There's a whole market for that. So I also, you know, whatever power goes.
Lessons on Value and Community
Like, you actually have access and a true ownership of your things, right. It's not just it. So that's where I thought NFts were going. But it's funny because play to earn and like, all these things nobody actually cared about. Some of those games ran to hundreds of millions of dollars, billions of dollars, and then they ran down to nothing, just like anything else. I'll take one or two more questions. I'm not sure if there's hands, but I know took her and LFG are here, if you are here, either of you, too, if either you have a question or anything, feel free to unmute yourself. If not, okay.
Final Thoughts and Gratitude
What's up, Tukur? Yo, how you doing, man? What's up, brother? Thanks for bringing me up here, man. Props to you, Billy, the godfather of memes, for just creating Doge. Doge was actually the first meme I ever bought. Like, I even know how long ago? A long time ago. I had a question, just maybe just something that you can think of that's sort of the coolest thing that's happened to you in your life because of dogecoin, like, where dogecoin brought you, because I know crypto can just bring you just all kinds of wild places that you would never really expect to get to. And if there's anything that maybe stands out to you that doge brought into.
Personal Reflection on Dogecoin's Impact
Your life, it's been pretty surreal. Kind of like what I was saying earlier with high res, that it's. I try to compartmentalize it as, like, you know, this is not really me. It's like a different life, essentially, for all this kind of online stuff and all the doge stuff. But it still was quite amusing to have interactions with famous people and, like, people that I like. And it's also just generally wild to have a platform where I can just kind of say stuff and people are nice, or most people are nice. Some people are pieces of garbage, but. It is the Internet, after all.
Navigating Online Fame
Yeah, yeah. But, you know, it's kind of like I was used to before all this dirty stuff to, like, talk on message boards and be ignored. And then now it's like, you can talk on message boards or, you know, this on the Internet, and people are, like, taking you seriously, and there's really shitty newspaper articles on something you said that's taken out of context. You're like, yeah, okay. So that's just wild to me. I'm just kind of taking it in as, like, a weird thing that's happening separate than everything else, but it's pretty cool. It's fun to talk about.
Continued Engagement with the Community
Yeah, man. Well, props to you for staying so real. Like, high res was saying, like, just how huge, obviously, your token has become, and I. And yourself as a Persona, but you're still a very real guy, and I think a lot of people would take advantage of that if in that situation, and it seems like you're not. I'm sure you take advantage of it, but you're definitely just staying true to your morals and stuff. And I'm sure segregating your Internet self from your real self helps deal with that. But props to you for doing it, Mandy.
Gratitude and Lifestyle Balance
I'm trying. Thanks. But, you know, I do like money, so keep my eye on stuff. Well, brother, we appreciate you coming in, and I hope you enjoyed chatting. I know it's been a couple years since we did this publicly, or maybe I think we're private. It's been great. You know, you're a really good host. I really appreciate the chatting and, you know, just holding it down because usually when I run spaces, it's, like, kind of a pain to, like, get people up and down and all this other stuff.
Recap and Value of Conversations
So it's great to just be. Be relaxing and talking to a friend. And just 100%, that's how it should be, man. And anytime, I mean, I'm not sure you're working on anything or promoting anything you want, anything, you know, pushed or done. I don't know if you do anything like that or you're developing anything, you let us know, and we're happy to push it, promote it, talk about it. Obviously, you're living your regular life, but, you know, anytime you just want to chat and shoot the shit like you just said, we're here, brother.
Wrapping Up and Future Connections
Okay, that sounds great. All right, man. You enjoy the rest of your week and weekend, and I. And we'll talk soon. All right, have a good one. Peace, man. And thank you guys for coming to the space. I appreciate y'all, man. Shout out to Billy for coming through. Shout out took her and everybody else who jones? Everybody else who came through. We appreciate y'all greatly, man.
