Key Takeaways:
Dogecoin has been enjoying a remarkable period as its price surged by 12% over the past week. During that period, the popular cryptocurrency posted its largest single-day gain of 15% after Elon Musk proposed the idea of a Department of Government Efficiency, or D.O.G.E.
Elon Musk Announces D.O.G.E, Leading to the Price of Dogecoin Surging 12% in Under a Week
The tech billionaire was speaking at a town hall in Pennsylvania, promoting Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy, when an audience member asked him about the idea of establishing a department to check on the government’s efficiency.
Musk responded with “Yeah, D.O.G.E”, which led to the crowd cheering and applauding him. The mere mention of the meme coin’s name sent its price skyrocketing. The Department of Government Efficiency is an initiative that aims to streamline government spending, simplify administrative processes, and enhance the efficient use of taxpayer money.
The announcement had a major impact on the price of DOGE, surging by 10% within 24 hours and surpassing $0.13. As per a report by Coinglass, open interest in DOGE futures increased 18.09% to $926.76 million. Meanwhile, options volume increased 616.31%, indicating heightened market activity and investor interest.
Discussions related to Dogecoin have reached their highest levels in the past year on social media. Traders are largely speculating that Musk’s involvement with the Trump campaign and the idea of the D.O.G.E initiative could lead to increased interest in DOGE. Some others believe that a victory for Trump in November might further integrate DOGE into governmental discourse, which they think would influence its adoption and price.
Many crypto enthusiasts are betting that a Trump administration will pursue a more crypto-friendly regulatory environment, leading to the prices of major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) jumping.
Elon Musk the “Doge Father”
Musk continues to advocate for the former president and is using Dogecoin references to draw investor interest into the memecoin. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has a long history of promoting DOGE. It even got him into legal trouble after a class action lawsuit was filed accusing him of promoting a pump-and-dump scheme to intentionally inflate the coin. The case was dismissed in August.
Last year, Musk hinted at the possibility of supporting DOGE payments on X, but it has yet to come to fruition. The meme coin’s market cap reached an all-time high of $88 billion in May 2021 after a host of endorsements from Musk, including an SNL sketch where he proclaimed himself the “dogefather”. In 2023, DOGE jumped 30% after Musk changed the Twitter logo to a picture of a Shiba Inu dog that is associated with the Doge meme.
Dogecoin is currently the world’s eighth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, which has risen to $20 billion following Musk’s announcement of the Department of Government Efficiency. It even outpaced Bitcoin (BTC) in market performance.
At the time of writing, DOGE is trading at $0.1457 – down by 1.73% over the last 24 hours.
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