The Dogecoin community is in mourning as Sporklin, a long-time developer who had supported the project since its early days, died today.

Billy Marcus, creator and developer of the Dogecoin (DOGE) protocol announced the news on his Twitter account. She revealed that after an intense fight against cancer, Sporklin ended up losing the battle.

Sporklin devoted the last 7 years of her life to Dogecoin, in every way. Supporting the devs, educating the community, defending others with her wit and boldness. She cared greatly about integrity and lived up to her ideals. She was a true shibe.

She will be greatly missed. RIP. pic.twitter.com/Yl9k2yvYdv

— Shibetoshi Nakamoto (@BillyM2k) April 25, 2021

The Developer and The Philosophy of Dogecoin

For 7 years, Sporklin dedicated herself to developing the Dogecoin infrastructure, and although for many, the cryptocurrency was nothing more than a joke, for her, the project represented an opportunity to generate real value and solve real problems.

Dogecoin was not a game for Sporklin. In many cases, she made her point about the importance of the cryptocurrency behind the meme. One of her last posts on Reddit explained that Dogecoin was much more than a joke played by Elon Musk and reminded Elon’s role as another celebrity with no direct influence on the project.

“Elon has nothing to do with Dogecoin which has been made clear repeatedly … Elon has come to play with Dogecoin for years on social media, it was only recently that people tried to turn that into something it is not … Things have not changed…Elon is not on board with anything, Elon does not have anything to do with the project, the listings, the engagements…Nothing. He memes and trolls.”

Likewise, Sporklin was an avid advocate for Dogecoin’s decentralization. On several occasions, she argued that Dogecoin evolved at its own pace precisely because there is no single central entity running everything.

This, while making the project slow, was a philosophical virtue that characterized the cryptocurrency. Dogecoin was never abandoned, and it had an active development team. Still, anyone willing to write software for this blockchain had to wade into the Dogecoin jungle and know that they would not have a team to turn to and solve their problems.

In this sense, for Sporklin, Dogecoin was a collective effort that could be both fun and useful.

Sporklin Left Dogecoin in February

Sporklin quit the Dogecoin dev team in February of this year precisely because of the health problems she was experiencing and some differences regarding the project’s current state. In a Reddit post, she elaborated on how she disagreed with some decisions that were happening in the Dogecoin community (probably the extreme pumps through social networks) and warned that she considered this “shift” as harmful.

She also explained that she needed to devote time to her health, revealing that cancer left her with less than a 50% chance of survival.

To give this full clarity, during a very recent trip to the ER, I became aware that I have an advanced form of cancer that has already aggressively spread. Chemo, radiation and ongoing treatment are hoping to improve my pretty abysmal 40% odds of survival. (Please nu vitamins, crystals, or special waters; I am sort of okay with science even if it is harsh). Currently my health needs to take priority along with working towards getting better.

Sadly she could not beat the odds, but her legacy will always live on in that meme coin community that today ranks number 7 among the cryptos with the highest market capitalization.