Dogecoin Surges as Trump Victory Signals Musk May Get His Proposed 'DOGE' Department

The Shiba Ina-themed memecoin — often associated with Musk— surged in the early morning hours on Wednesday, trading hands at $0.20, the highest since April.

President-elect Trump called Musk a “super genius” and said that the country needs to protect its geniuses.

The Shiba Ina-themed memecoin had a surge in the early morning hours on Wednesday, trading hands at $0.20, the highest since April. It settled around $0.19 on Thursday—a huge leap from a year ago when Dogecoin was scuffling as low as $0.07.

Musk, who donated over $118 million to Trump’s campaign and appeared at many of his rallies sporting a “dark MAGA” hat, will be one of Trump’s strongest allies.

Dogecoin enthusiasts see Trump’s victory as a major win for the memecoin as it means there is likely to be more news about Musk and his proposed Department of Government Efficiency, whose DOGE acronym is an obvious nod to the coin.

Trump said on the campaign trail that he would put Musk in charge of the proposed new DOGE department, which would purportedly oversee government spending and eliminate “fraud and improper payments.”

When asked about the department at a town hall campaign event in Pennsylvania, Musk responded, “Yeah, D.O.G.E,” causing it to surge 15%.

Dogecoin is up 157% in the last year after Musk threw his fortune and influence behind Trump following his attempted assassination in July. In the days following Musk’s endorsement of Trump on X, Dogecoin surged 24%.

Musk has a long history of influencing the price of Dogecoin. In May 2021, following multiple endorsements from the billionaire including an SNL skit where he called himself “dogefather,” the coin’s market cap reached an all-time high of $88 billion.

His promotion of the coin led to a class action lawsuit in which he was accused of a pump-and-dump scheme to inflate the memecoin’s price. However, the lawsuit was thrown out in August.

Dogecoin is currently the eighth-largest cryptocurrency with a market cap of over $28 billion.