Jackson Palmer, the founder of Dogecoin, has reportedly turned down investment offers that are worth $500,000.

Palmer, who is from Australia, turned down the offers from two venture capitalist firms because he feels that Dogecoin is an entity that should continue to be driven by their community.

“I really think Dogecoin’s strength is that it belongs to the community that has brought it this far. It’s the internet’s currency, and doesn’t rest in the hands of any one person or entity,” he said during an interview with The Next Web.

“I guess the argument of VCs is that taking investment could assist in the growth of the currency – but the fact is that the bulk of it’s growth comes from the community and not the small core team we maintain for official projects like charity sponsorship,” Palmer said. “I’m fairly confident in the moon trajectory the community has set, and I believe in them.”

Dogecoin, which started off as a bit of a joke, has received a lot of attention recently for their charitable work. Two separate Dogecoin fundraisers brought in $30,000 a piece. One was to help the Jamaican bobsleigh team get to the Olympics, and the other was to give children in need service dogs.

The VC firms tried to use theses examples convince him that through their investment he could get rich, but Palmer isn’t interested in that. For him, its more about the fact that he can use Dogecoin to help support charities or projects that he believes in and wants to help.

“A lot of investors come to me and they say ‘you know you could get rich off this, you can make millions. What are you going to tell your grandchildren in the future?’” he said. “And I reply, ‘you know what I’m going to tell my grandkids? I’m going to tell them that we paired service dogs with children in need, off the back of a f***ing joke.’”

“The fact is that out of nothing I can contribute $30,000 to a children’s charity that I believe in, that is payment enough,” he added. “I don’t want anything more. I could leave tomorrow but the fact is I’ll be happy for the rest of my life. It’s all I want.”

[via The Next Web, Techly]