Dogecoin founder Billy Markus told Vitalik Buterin that there’s no point in improving the creator token model, calling it “flawed.”
Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum ETH $2 277 24h volatility: 4.6% Market cap: $274.93 B Vol. 24h: $57.35 B blockchain network, recently proposed a new creator token model that combines decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) with prediction market mechanisms.
The model is designed to reward content that is likely to succeed, giving creators tools to engage their audience while making sure that backers have a stake in quality outcomes.
The Dogecoin DOGE $0.10 24h volatility: 0.1% Market cap: $17.67 B Vol. 24h: $2.29 B founder, Billy Markus, however, has countered Buterin’s proposal, calling the creator coins “dead tokens” and highlighting skepticism around their long-term viability.
Vitalik Buterin Proposes a Shift in Creator Token Economy
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has proposed a shift in the “creator token” economy.
Creator tokens, popular as content coins, are blockchain-based assets that can offer fans ownership stakes, access privileges, or royalty exposure to a creator’s work.
In a post on X on Sunday, Buterin argued that many existing creator token platforms tend to reward volume over quality.
How I would do creator coins
We've seen about 10 years of people trying to do content incentivization in crypto, from early-stage platforms like Bihu and Steemit, to BitClout in 2021, to Zora, to tipping features inside of decentralized social, and more. So far, I think we have…
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) February 1, 2026
He added that this trend is further amplified by AI-generated content. In January 2026, Buterin shared similar views, stating that the crypto industry needs better DAOs rather than simply larger ones.
In order to address this issue, Buterin suggested a system in which creators issue their own tokens and apply to curated creator DAOs.
Members of these DAOs would vote on which creators or pieces of content are accepted.
Speculators could participate through prediction markets by betting on which submissions will gain approval.
According to Buterin’s proposal, creators whose content is accepted could see their token’s value increase.
The DAOs would also burn a portion of their tokens, creating a scarcer supply and potentially pushing their value higher.
Vitalik Buterin said that many of the leading creator coins on platforms such as BitClout and Zora are dominated by celebrities or individuals with “very high social status.”
He believes that this makes it difficult for creators to gain traction based solely on the quality of their work.
In January, Buterin also discussed a return to decentralized social networking, with plans to advance this effort in 2026.
Dogecoin Founder Calls “Creator Coins” Fraud
Responding to Vitalik Buterin, Dogecoin co-founder Billy Markus criticized the concept of creator coins.
He called the model fundamentally flawed and likely to produce abandoned tokens.
i think creator coins are an inherently flawed concept that just leads to dead tokens like the other 11,000,000 tokens released a year and it’s not worth trying to fix
— Shibetoshi Nakamoto (@BillyM2k) February 1, 2026
Markus argued that creator coins tend to follow the same trajectory as millions of other tokens launched each year.
He added that most of these coins quickly lose relevance, leading him to believe there’s little point in trying to improve the concept of creator tokens.
next