The memecoin Dogecoin has surged in value following President-elect Donald Trump‘s election win and subsequent move to appoint Elon Musk to the new Department of Governmental Efficiency.
The cryptocurrency, founded in 2013 and popularized in part by Musk in 2020, has more than doubled in value since Election Day.
Musk’s influence on the cryptocurrency has been well-documented, and the most recent surge began Oct. 15 when Musk posted on X that “D.O.G.E will fix it” in response to a post lamenting politicians and bureaucrats as “the greatest threat to human progress.”
DOGE aims to cut staffing in government agencies and spending as a whole. It’s unknown whether they have the authority to do so.
October is also when Musk grew closer to Trump’s campaign and appeared at the president-elect’s second Butler, Pennsylvania, rally. Musk voiced his support for Trump after his first assassination attempt at Butler in July.
From Oct. 15 to Oct. 19, the coin increased from .11 cents to .14 cents before settling until Election Day. It increased to .20 cents on the news of Trump being elected president. The value of the cryptocurrency has skyrocketed since Nov. 10, reaching its highest valuation since May 2021, when Musk appeared on Saturday Night Live.
He refrained from offering specific comments on the cryptocurrency on X until a post on Wednesday showed him commenting on the inflation of the coin.
“I think the flat inflation of Dogecoin, which means decreasing percentage inflation, is a feature, not a bug,” he said. He also posted a photo with a dog and the name of the new department on Tuesday night.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 13, 2024
The tech magnate has been previously accused of manipulating the market of Dogecoin. In August, Musk and Tesla won the dismissal of a federal lawsuit accusing them of rigging the cryptocurrency and conducting insider trading. A judge ruled that some of his statements were “aspirational and puffery, not factual and susceptible to being falsified,” as Musk was accused of.
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Musk said in a post on X in 2021 that he has not sold any of the cryptocurrency and won’t in the future.
The tech magnate will be joined in the DOGE by former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.