Cryptocurrency creator: Elon Musk is a ‘grifter’ who doesn’t know how to code

It’s weird that we’re not hearing much about Elon Musk’s attempt to purchase Twitter anymore. The last time we heard about it, Tesla’s stock price had significantly dipped, as had Twitter’s stock price. If the deal goes forward as-is, he’ll be overpaying for Twitter and he doesn’t have the money, basically. Which is probably why Musk is trying to wriggle his way out of the deal by claiming that he needs more information on bots. Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) looms, and Musk is looking at lawsuits from Twitter shareholders. And, unsurprisingly, Musk is a sexual harasser on top of all that.

All in all, a perfect time to go on vacation, right? Musk was seen at the Chevel Blanc Hotel in St. Tropez over the weekend. He has a new actress girlfriend – a 27-year-old named Natasha Bassett. Natasha was in Cannes to promote something, and Musk came out to spend some time with her. Keep in mind that Musk and Grimes just announced their split a few months ago. Musk and Grimes also welcomed their second child together via surrogate in December. Exa Dark Sideræl joined 2-year-old son X Æ A-12. From what I’ve heard/seen, Musk doesn’t spend much time at all with his children with Grimes, although I do think he occasionally sees his kids from his first marriage.

Meanwhile, did you hear that the co-creator of Musk’s favorite cryptocurrency thinks Musk is a giant fraud? Pot, kettle, Ponzi.

One of the co-creators of the cryptocurrency Dogecoin says he’s convinced Elon Musk is a “grifter” after his own interactions with the SpaceX CEO/wannabe Twitter owner. Jackson Palmer, in an interview with the Australian news site Crikey, said he first interacted with Musk on Twitter several years ago regarding plans for a bot meant to weed out cryptocurrency scams on the platform.

“Elon reached out to me to get hold of that script and it became apparent very quickly that he didn’t understand coding as well as he made out. He asked, ‘How do I run this Python script?’” Palmer was quoted saying. After that, he said, “I wasn’t a fan of him. He’s a grifter, he sells a vision in hopes that he can one day deliver what he’s promising, but he doesn’t know that.”

As for Musk’s Twitter takeover, Palmer said he suspects the Tesla exec either wants to “dismantle all trust or maybe he’s delusional enough to think he can build an alternative.” The other option, he said, is “that he wants to drive it into the ground at a much lower price, and I think that’s what he’s doing.” Musk has yet to respond to the comments.

[From The Daily Beast]

Sounds about right. I also believe that Musk is nowhere near as capable as he pretends to be. It wouldn’t surprise me if the whole thing came crashing down on him.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

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60 Responses to “Cryptocurrency creator: Elon Musk is a ‘grifter’ who doesn’t know how to code”

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  1. lunchcoma says:

    Takes a grifter to know a grifter I guess. I can completely believe he has no idea how to code. He might have known 25 years ago? That wouldn’t be very helpful these days, though.

    • Sarah Kate says:

      I completely agree with you. Python became big within the last 16 years. It’s a difficult language to learn. He probably didn’t bother with it at that point.

      • JC says:

        Sorry, tried to respond to you but it posted as a separate comment. Comment 21. Sorry! New around here.

      • BrainFog 💉💉💉😷 says:

        I’m sorry but if you think that Python is a hard language, have you met C or Rust or Haskell?
        There is a reason why we use Python to teach coding to kids. It’s one of the easiest languages out there.
        If Musk really doesn’t know how to run a simple damn Python script then …. I don’t know how he has any business being labelled as a tech genius. IF that story is true.

  2. ThatsNotOkay says:

    The man is vile in every sense of the word. Why would any human want to touch that?

    • Sue E Generis says:

      Um, the same 75 million who worship Trump? I’ve been saying this for the longest time. Musk is simply another Trump. Dumb, privileged conman whose great talent is twisting the narrative to take credit for others’ successes and making himself appear smarter, more capable and successful than he is. And it works, so there’s that.

      • trillion says:

        also, like D.T., he was born into wealth that was attained by daddy et al under shady AF circumstances involving overt racism.

    • Giddy says:

      I find that picture where he’s posing in his tux very scary. He doesn’t look quite human.

      • Malificent says:

        Yeah, Elon’s face is uncomfortable to look at. I don’t know whether he’s had anything invasive done or just fillers — but everything is just a little bit off.

      • BothSidesNow says:

        @ Malificent, I am getting Napoleon off of that vibe. Which would actually make sense once you put it all together.

    • Giddy says:

      I find the picture where he’s posing in his tux very scary. He looks like an alien who created a human suit and almost got it right!

    • Molly Fulton says:

      He absolutely looks like some Monopoly board game villain.

  3. Eurydice says:

    I don’t understand. Musk doesn’t need to know how to code; he can hire people to do that. I think this is another case of “two things can be true at the same time” – Musk can be a slime bucket and Twitter can be deceiving investors with faked statistics.

    • kgeo says:

      I am a mediocre coder at best. Very rough, just do it for data analysis and visualization, and I still end up editing my plot aesthetics because I can’t be bothered sometimes, so take this with a grain of salt. I think he presents himself as really being much more technically in the weeds than he is from the sound of this. He has a lot of social pull and public trust and as someone that pushes crypto-currency, and is buying Twitter, he should probably have a firm grasp on coding. I wouldn’t trust someone to just tell me what code is doing. If I had his presence, I’d want to run it, then pick it apart myself before I told anyone else they should trust it.

    • KFG says:

      Except you can’t be a “tech genius ” and make massive claims about algorithms if you don’t know shit about coding. Elon isn’t as rich as he pretends to be especially since most of his wealth comes from stocks, which he’s leveraged to the hilt. He’s cash poor and can’t afford twitter and is trying to get out of the contract

      • Eurydice says:

        Well, Palmer didn’t say Musk didn’t know shit about coding, just that Musk didn’t know as much as he made out back when Palmer spoke to him about cryptocurrency several years ago. Maybe he knows more now than he did then, I don’t know. My only point is that it’s easy to pile onto Musk because he seems a very unsavory character, but that doesn’t automatically make Twitter the good guy in this story. It’s very possible to have two bad guys.

      • Anastasia says:

        He’s not even really a genius though? He bought Tesla after it was already off the ground, tried to cover it up by buying the founder title as well, I feel like Space X was the same thing? They were on Kickstarter originally, I’m pretty sure.

    • AmB says:

      I don’t think it’s so much “he can’t code” as that he’s a poseur, and not a good one.

      He asked for a script without knowing what to do with it, and then expected the author to teach him basic Python (which is both breathtakingly arrogant and embarrassingly stupid).

      It’s like asking to hold the pompoms and assuming that qualifies you for the varsity cheerleading squad.

  4. Denise says:

    How long until his new gf is pregnant

    • Ang says:

      The second child was not via surrogate, we just assumed it was.
      Grimes carried the second child.

  5. Rachel says:

    Beady eyes and pasty skin. ewww

  6. Amy Bee says:

    Musk is not an innovator. He just has the money to pay people to do the actual work he’s been praised for.

    • Sue E Generis says:

      And he did the most important part. He has manipulated the PR so the lazy unwashed masses believe he’s the visionary and genius who founded some of the most successful companies in the world. A little digging would reveal this to b a complete lie, but it doesn’t matter. Nobody digs.

    • trillion says:

      @Amy: exactly. He’s a VC, not an inventor. But my (many) Trump-loving friends/family are already giving him the same myth-making in real-time treatment. It’s tough for them to reconcile that they think he invented electric cars with…..the existence of electric cars. LOL.

  7. SarahLee says:

    Oh the irony of a crypto creator calling Musk a grifter. Say what you want about Musk – and I’m not a huge fan – but he has been a an innovator and creator. Crypto guy? Not so much.

    • Sue E Generis says:

      Sorry, he’s not though. You’ve fallen for the lie. Please do some research, he’s created nothing. He took other people’s work and manipulated public perception so people like you believe he’s the ‘founder’ of successful companies. Whenever he truly had opportunities to build and lead, he screwed up so badly that he was fired. All smoke and mirrors.

    • Mich says:

      Nope. Not an innovator. Not a creator. He is an investor with a clinical level of narcissism.

    • Wiglet Watcher says:

      Sarahlee
      It’s true. He’s like Elizabeth Holmes in a way. The lies put out there first. The truth always follows, but people lose interest by then. There was enough buzz, enough money and enough names attached. So, why question?

      The truth is coming out slowly just like with Elizabeth. That she was a grifter. Not an innovator.

    • SarahLee says:

      But ideas don’t come to fruition without funding. If someone had an idea for Tesla or SpaceX then they didn’t do it for whatever reason. He did.

      • Sue E Generis says:

        Again, please do your research. He didn’t create Tesla, it wasn’t his idea. It already existed, he just bought it.

      • Veronica S. says:

        And he had A LOT of help from the American government in the forms of contracts, tax breaks, loans, and other grants establishing that funding. To the tune of billions, in fact. By far one of the biggest scams run on the American people is how much scientific advancement is considered proprietary despite it being funded by American taxpayer money.

    • JaneBee says:

      Musk really is neither an innovator nor a creator. He’s a savvy investor from a privileged family background. He’s not a tech genius, despite trying to sell that image to the world. And the ‘crypto guy’ co-created Doge coin while at university as a joke – and he is on the record stating he thinks crypto currency is BS.

  8. Gobo says:

    To be fair, crypto currencies were not initially set up to be ponzi schemes, Dogecoin was set up as a joke, not a grift. The crypto situation is a bit like the Wall Street Stock Exchange crash. Stock is not inherantly evil, but it was unregulated and people lost the run of themselves, then lost everything. The Dogecoin creator resents Musk for using his twitter platform to manipulate it’s value, most likely for personal gain. All this aside: it’s not a good idea to view any unregulated currency as a solid investment opportunity.

  9. Merricat says:

    I thought he already pulled out of the Twitter deal. In any case, paper tiger.

    • JaneBee says:

      He committed to purchase and I think has a financial penalty if he defaults on it by a certain deadline? Hence possibly releasing the sexual assault/harassment story to try to be found unsuitable for Twitter board position so technically it’s not default. While also trying to drive down Twitter stock price in meantime.

  10. J. Ferber says:

    I always suspected he was a grifter. If he was anything but a white man, he wouldn’t have gotten as far as he has with his “businesses.” Also, no one would buy that he was a boy genius if he weren’t white. I would, but many would not, unfortunately. That’s why we’re stuck with such asses in politics, too. Because people respect white male morons. Especially those who support guns.

  11. Stef says:

    He’s always been a delusional scheister and it’s nice to see that the chickens are finally coming home to roost. With such a long history of delusions of grandeur and lies about his plans, is anyone really surprised?

    Do we think this is mental illness, or is he just an idiot savant who rarely follows through? Both?

  12. Nuks says:

    All I know is Gary Oldman will play him brilliantly someday.

    • PunkyMomma says:

      Haha! Yes, to this — Oldman stuffed in that tux, looking and acting exactly like the Lizard Muffin.

    • BothSidesNow says:

      Such an underrated actor! He was hypnotizing in The Fifth Element!!! He and John Malkovich are my top 5 favorite actors!!!

  13. Alice says:

    This is basically the tech bro version of “You’re a virgin who can’t drive”.

  14. Wiglet Watcher says:

    He did try to drive down twitter stock with his announcement of Trump being welcomed back. He knew that wasn’t going to be seen well. What he didn’t think is that Tesla stock would drop. That all the deaths from autopilot and all his safety issues and harassment over the years would also come up.

  15. Delphine says:

    The bigger they are the harder they fall. I feel a crash coming for sure. It’s his hubris. Also his businesses aren’t that profitable.

    • BothSidesNow says:

      Certainly not anymore with in the last 5-15 days. All at his own doing, no one else to blame this kerfuffle, and his massive losses, on but him.

  16. Valerie says:

    This headline makes me think of that line from Clueless: You’re a virgin who can’t drive!

  17. HeyKay says:

    OK, here’s my opinion on Elon.
    I think he is the best salesman-bullsh**er in the room.
    He is an interesting person. From a distance.
    No way in hell would I care to be personally involved with him.

    He seems to have a bit more sense of humor about himself vs. say Bezos.

    Elon certainly has a “type” in looks at least, with the women he romances.
    They ALL look like his first wife to me.
    Plenty of children, none of which he spends much time with.
    Because, you know, his work comes first. Blah, blah, blah.

    This entire idea of “Billionaires” is BS!
    It’s all a scam. Wealth hoarding is vile!

    • JaneBee says:

      I think Musk is incredibly thin skinned compared to Bezos. You’re the world’s richest person and steeped in the protection of privilege, yet you need to trash any single individual who says something uncomplimentary about you? I can’t stand either, but if I was ever stuck sitting next to one of them for any period of time, would prefer Bezos on the basis he is marginally less obnoxious. And had the nous to marry an amazing person as first wife.

  18. Thinking says:

    He has a degree in physics. He may not know how to do use Python, but he’s not dumb. Annoying maybe but that’s different from being stupid.

    • JaneBee says:

      No one is claiming he is utterly unintelligent, but his self crafted image as a tech genius is BS.

      Really surprised to see so many Celebitches leaping to Musk’s defence. He has sufficient fanboys, wannabe tech bros, and Trump supporters to do that for him without your good selves joining in.

  19. Qatar2 says:

    Bit random but has he had some weird plastic surgery? He was attractive about 10 years ago but now he looks like an aging lesbian. I can’t quite figure out what is making him look so feminine yet masculine at the same time. He looks like KD Lang if anyone knows who that is!

  20. JC says:

    It’s not actually that difficult at all. Id say it’s definitely in the easiest 30% of coding languages to learn. And the user interfaces are quite simple. I’m not very adept at anything technological and I know some Python. To someone holding themselves up as a genius in the field of tech and engineering, it should come incredibly naturally. He’s a fraud. Which some of us have known for ages. See this thread about his starlink business, for example: https://twitter.com/flexghost1/status/1528401662259277824

  21. topherben says:

    Worth noting that Dogecoin was ALWAYS intended to be a joke – they were upfront about. It’s the crypto-bro idiots and their delusional followers who turned it into a grift.