The Department of Government Efficiency is still the DOGE, but the DOGE agency website no longer features the iconic Doge meme imagery shared with Dogecoin—and the original meme coin is now sinking.
The price of Dogecoin jumped Tuesday once fans and investors noticed that the website for the Elon Musk-led government initiative featured the likeness of Kabosu, the late Shiba Inu pup who inspired the internet meme that Dogecoin is based on.
Dogecoin rose as high as $0.385 on Tuesday, recovering some ground after plunging following last Friday’s launch of Donald Trump’s official Solana meme coin, TRUMP. Dogecoin had been priced at $0.431 before the TRUMP token dropped, then plunged down to $0.338 earlier this week.
The coin is now down 6% over the last 24 hours, falling to about $0.359. It’s the biggest loser among the top 10 cryptocurrencies, with Bitcoin and Ethereum both down about 1.5% over the last day. Solana, meanwhile, has jumped 5% during the span.
The Department of Government Efficiency is an official Trump initiative, led by noted Dogecoin fan Elon Musk, that aims to substantially cut the size of government by trimming budgets and eliminating jobs. Musk was set to co-run the agency with Vivek Ramaswamy, but the billionaire and Bitcoin fan dropped out this week due to apparent plans to run for Ohio governor.
The association with Musk has fueled Dogecoin gains for years, and was renewed over the last few months as the world’s richest man discussed the coin on the campaign trail while supporting Trump. That then transformed into plans for the Department of Government Efficiency, which Trump made official just days after winning November’s election.
And now Trump has his own meme coin to challenge Dogecoin. TRUMP is down about 2% on the day at a current price of $38.50.
But while the official doge.gov website featured Dogecoin imagery on Tuesday, it’s no longer visible. It’s just the latest example of the words and actions of Elon Musk and his initiatives have impacted the price of Dogecoin over the years.
