Key dogecoin developer Ross Nicoll is stepping away from the meme-based coin, citing the 'overwhelming' stress of the project

• Ross Nicoll, who helped develop dogecoin, said he's pulling back on his work on the cryptocurrency, citing stress as a major reason.
• He wrote in a blog post that he will remain an advisor to the Dogecoin Foundation.

Ross Nicoll, one of the primary developers behind dogecoin, said he will be stepping back from his work on the meme-based cryptocurrency, citing the stress the has come with working on the coin that soared in popularity over the last few years.

"I am going to be stepping away from Dogecoin, for a number of reasons. Primarily the stress involved is overwhelming and I need to step back to focus on myself for a period," Nicoll said in a blog post Wednesday.

He also said there's "further complication" in that his employer is moving into the blockchain space, which could stoke the risk of conflict of interest if he were to remain as director of the Dogecoin Foundation. Nicoll reportedly works at Alphabet's Google as a software engineer.

"I'm handing over everything I can to the Dogecoin Foundation. I will be remaining as an advisor to the Foundation, to enable transition," he wrote.

The Dogecoin Foundation was relaunched last year in part to create a roadmap for the token and protect the brand against fraud and abuse. Ethereum's co-creator Vitalik Buterin joined the foundation last year as a blockchain and crypto advisor. Dogecoin quickly became popular after starting in 2013 as a joke between IBM software engineer Billy Markus and Adobe software engineer Jackson Palmer. The two merged the phenomena of bitcoin and a meme based on the image of a Shiba Inu dog.

Palmer, for his part, has completely disavowed doge and crypto, stating in a twitter thread last year that he would never return to the industry and slamming the space as rife with shady business dealings and pay-to-play schemes.

In stepping back, Nicoll also cited "further complication" in that his employer is moving into the blockchain space, which could stoke the risk of conflict of interest if he were to remain as director of the Dogecoin Foundation. Nicoll reportedly works at Alphabet's Google as a software engineer.

Nicoll said he's been working on defending dogecoin from uninvolved parties registering trademarks. He said he has "confidence" in his dogecoin colleagues "to steer Dogecoin into the next phase, in a way that I do not have the mindset for."