Elon Musk is taking Doge to the White House, but not as a cryptocurrency or an internet meme.
Instead, the Tesla CEO, SpaceX founder and billionaire is set to co-lead a new department with an acronym of the same name: the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE
Dogecoin has become a phenomenon in 2021, with Musk and other personalities and celebrities endorsing the cryptocurrency. The “memecoin” has become so popular that its market value reached $45 billion in April 2021.
Musk was one of the coin’s biggest supporters, so much so that in 2023 he even temporarily changed the logo on value of Dogecoin.
Doge memes could return in 2025 when President-elect Donald Trump takes office after appealing to Musk and the entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy lead the Department of Government Effectiveness.
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“Together, these two wonderful Americans will lead the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, cut excessive regulations, cut wasteful spending, and restructure federal agencies – which is essential to the ‘Save America’ movement,” according to a statement. Trump’s statement shared on Musk’s Page X on Tuesday.
Trump’s announcement even led to a continued increase in the value of Dogecoin on Tuesday evening, with the cryptocurrency up more than 150% since Election Day.
Here’s what you need to know about Doge (the meme), Dogecoin (the cryptocurrency), and DOGE (the newly created department).
Doge, the meme
The Doge meme became popular online in the early 2010s, according to Know Your Meme. Internet users circulated enlarged photos of the dog’s face, with raised eyebrows.
Kabosu, the Japanese dog known as the subject of the meme, was a Shiba Inu who lived to be 18 years old. before his death earlier this year.
Kabosu:Memeified dog widely known as the face of Dogecoin has died, owner says
Doge, the piece
Created by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer as a joke in 2013, Dogecoin has become one of the most popular “meme stocks” amid a retail trading boom during the COVID-19 pandemic. GameStop, AMC and other seemingly forgotten stocks rose around the same time Dogecoin was gaining momentum.
GameStop took Wall Street by storm in January 2021 after Roaring kitten and other small investors on Reddit contributed to a historic short sale that sent stock prices soaring. Like GameStop, Dogecoin’s popularity stems from celebrity endorsements, memes, and GIFs.
Snoop Dogg, Mark Cuban and many others has jumped on the Dogecoin bandwagon, but none of them compare to Musk’s love for the cryptocurrency. Musk was even accused of insider trading by investors in June 2023 due to the series of stunts he pulled, including changing the Twitter logo to the Doge logo and announcing that Tesla would accept the currency as a means of payment for the company’s goods, the Tutor previously reported.
Musk and Tesla won the dismissal of the $258 billion federal lawsuit last August after the court found that he did not defraud investors by promoting Dogecoin or engaging in insider trading, according to Reuters.
DOGE, the new “Department of Government Efficiency”
Musk is quoted in Trump’s statement as saying that the Department of Government Efficiency “will send shockwaves through the system and to anyone involved in government waste, which is a lot of people!” »
According to Trump, DOGE will provide advice and guidance from outside the government, and partner with the White House and the Office of Management and Budget to “drive large-scale structural reform and create a never-before-seen entrepreneurial approach to government “. “
Additionally, Musk and Ramaswamy will be tasked with eliminating what Trump’s statement calls “massive waste and fraud” in government spending. The billionaires’ work should be completed no later than July 4, 2026, according to the president-elect.
It is unclear whether DOGE will exist within the federal government or outside, as an official government agency cannot be created without an act of Congress. Trump’s description apparently suggests that the department would operate as an advisory commission — not a formal federal agency — without statutory authority.
Contributors: Taylor Ardrey, Joey Garrison, Josh Meyer, Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, David Jackson, Jessica Menton, Craig Harris, Brett Molina, USA TODAY