Dogecoin Price Surges 10% as Elon Musk’s 'Department of Government Efficiency' Gains Traction

While crypto prices in general are higher – including bitcon's rise above $68,000 for the first time since late July – DOGE's move was the highest among the majors and came alongside a rise in trading volumes and a $120 million spike in open interest (OI) on dogecoin-tracked futures.

Interest in DOGE picked up among influential X accounts after filings revealed Musk had donated $75 million to America political action committee (PAC) since July. The PAC is doing most of the Trump campaign's ground game work across key states ahead of the November presidential elections.

Musk has gotten closer to Republican candidate Donald Trump in the past few months with increased donations and endorsements. On various talk shows, he has talked about creating a “Department of Government Efficiency,” abbreviated as D.O.G.E, in a quest to make government spending more efficient.

Trump has said he would enlist Musk to run a “government efficiency commission” if he wins a second term as U.S. president, per BBC.

The expectation among traders is that a Trump victory could lead to more chatter of “DOGE,” fueling retail attention and interest in dogecoin.

“Elon Musk is simply going to meme the 'Department of Government Efficiency' into existence - with validation from Trump!,” influential X trader @theunipcs said in a Wednesday post. “And you can expect him to continue to aggressively bullpost the concept until it gets created.”

“Many years ago, $DOGE pumped on a small sports team. And you are telling me we will name a government agency after it next year?,” @degentradingLSD, another X user, wrote.

Musk is a long-time dogecoin supporter and DOGE has the tendency to surge on payments-related developments at any Musk-owned companies, such as X or Tesla.

In April 2023, Musk teased DOGE payments on Twitter, proposing the token as one of the payment options for Twitter Blue, the site’s subscription service with premium features.

Musk’s electric car company, Tesla, already accepts DOGE payments for merchandise purchases in the Tesla Store.