After months of rumor and speculation, it’s official: Donald Trump has tapped Elon Musk to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency — known as DOGE for short.
Despite the office’s stated aim of eliminating red tape and streamlining expenditure, the fact its acronym matches the ticker for Dogecoin is no coincidence.
This long-standing meme coin has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of Trump’s re-election, rallying by 112% over the past week alone.
Dogecoin stands at $0.42 at the time of writing — some way off the all-time high of $0.7376 set in May 2021, a top that coincided with Musk describing this altcoin as a “hustle” on national TV.
But what will Musk’s new role in government mean for Dogecoin’s price? Will it continue to outperform, or is it destined to crash?
One thing that struck me after reading the endless coverage about DOGE (the department) is how it could end up being calamitous for Dogecoin’s visibility.
Assuming this government initiative gains brand recognition and column inches, it could ultimately drown this meme coin out of Google search rankings.
That being said, Musk has wasted no time in sharing pieces of artwork from one of the many fan accounts that worship the ground he walks on — which loyally include a shiba inu.
This mega-billionaire has oh so many fans in the world of crypto, despite the fact he’s arguably done more damage to investors than good. I’ve written about that before.
But you could argue that this new role scrutinizing the U.S. government’s coffers could actually end up being a bearish development for digital assets.
Musk posts to his 204 million followers countless times a day — sometimes about X, sometimes about SpaceX. There’s a little space for a bad meme, or a bit of disinformation.
But in recent months, there’s been little to no mention of crypto, and going forward, it’ll be even less.
We’re now seeing this businessman’s timeline pivot to announcements from Trump’s transition team, and comments on the state of politics in America and beyond.
In real time, Musk is transforming from someone who is joking around on X to having a direct role in shaping world events — and affecting the lives of millions of Americans.
While his new role is positioned as being external to government, there’s little doubt he has the ear of the president. Just a few days ago, Musk joined Trump on a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, raising eyebrows in some national security circles.
Serving as co-commissioner of DOGE alongside Vivek Ramaswamy may affect his freedom to muse openly on X — for fear of embarrassing the administration he’s a part of, undercutting his many business interests, or both.
This lack of focus on cryptocurrencies may also extend to Trump himself, whose priorities on day one are said to include immigration, tariffs, and pulling out of the Paris climate agreement.
Don’t expect all too many mentions of Bitcoin on Truth Social any time soon.
Now back in power, in part thanks to the countless millions of dollars pledged by crypto heavyweights, Trump can afford to let BTC-friendly policies slip down his list of priorities. Given he’s limited to serving one term, he won’t have to go cap in hand for re-election donations anyway.
When you peel away Musk’s layers, it’s easy to see why he was infatuated with Dogecoin in the first place: he wanted influence. The mere fact that he could move markets with a single word would have been intoxicating to him.
The same goes for why he splurged $44 billion on buying X. Musk wanted his voice to drown out all others — heck, he ensured every single user would see his musings on their “For you” feeds, whether they followed him or not.
Musk has now reached peak influence, and that means he can now focus on an even bigger goal: power. The Department of Government Efficiency marks the beginning of his political ambitions, and it’s inevitable he’ll want greater sway in the months and years to come.
All of that means DOGE (the cryptocurrency) is now pretty surplus to requirements for Musk — something he can toss aside while he focuses on The Next Big Thing. And once the market’s euphoria at America’s changing political climate subsides, it’s inevitable that this will feed through into this meme coin’s value.
Disclaimer: The opinions in this article are the writer’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of Cryptonews.com. This article is meant to provide a broad perspective on its topic and should not be taken as professional advice.
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