With Dogecoin making a comeback late final 12 months and early into 2025, some could also be pondering: The place did the asset come from? What’s it for? And what’s Tesla CEO Elon Musk acquired to do with it?
The unique meme coin’s increase largely has the world’s richest man to thank. Musk’s obsession with shitposting helped increase the coin to a prime 10 cryptocurrency.
It’s been a wacky trip over the previous few years, culminating in Musk’s appointment to guide a authorities company known as DOGE—sure, actually. However we’ll clarify all of it.
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Toggle2018: What the DOGE?
Dogecoin is the most important and oldest meme coin and the second-biggest proof-of-work cryptocurrency. It was created in 2013 as a joke by builders Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer.
The concept was to poke enjoyable on the big variety of altcoins and crypto tasks coming into the market following Bitcoin’s fast ascent, and the coin loved relative obscurity and a low worth throughout its early years.
However then alongside got here Musk. The eccentric billionaire requested Palmer in a 2018 tweet to assist with the Twitter bot drawback. Scammers had created quite a lot of pretend high-profile accounts, together with Musk’s, with a purpose to push crypto cons. The scams sometimes posted pretend Ethereum giveaways.
It was the primary actual curiosity Musk had proven in Dogecoin.
2019: The pump begins
Musk began to pump Dogecoin the following 12 months. “Dogecoin may be my fav cryptocurrency,” he wrote in April 2019, in response to a screenshot of a ballot from the official Dogecoin account asking who needs to be the cryptocurrency’s CEO. “It’s fairly cool.”
The submit could be the primary of many to trigger the asset’s worth to rocket upwards. Quickly after Musk’s first tweet about Dogecoin, the market cap of the coin hit $400 million and crypto change Huobi listed it.
Musk being Musk, nevertheless, didn’t cease there: He branded himself Dogecoin’s CEO—briefly—on Twitter earlier than persevering with to fireside out tweets asking if the coin is “actually a sound type of foreign money” or posting memes related to the unique dog-coin.
2020/2021: Bull run arrives
Musk continued to pump Dogecoin’s worth right here and there along with his tweets, however issues actually acquired began in the course of the 2021 bull run. Main exchanges like Coinbase Professional listed Dogecoin and the asset developed a much bigger cult following, to not point out rising mainstream consciousness.
DOGE gained a market cap larger than many corporations within the S&P 500. And builders solely advised Decrypt that they’d secretly been working with Musk since 2019 to make the coin a sound fee technique and a greener, cheaper various to Bitcoin.
However issues acquired stranger when Musk known as himself the “Dogefather” forward of a “Saturday Night time Dwell” skit concerning the cryptocurrency—once more sending the asset’s worth roaring upwards. DOGE would bounce to its all-time excessive worth of about $0.73 at the moment.
Musk’s “SNL” look ended up being underwhelming for Doge followers, with the SpaceX boss and his mom’s allusions to the coin finally pushing its worth down. Nonetheless, it continued to carry the unusual world of meme cash to the mainstream.
Later that 12 months, Musk introduced that his rocket firm, SpaceX, would launch a satellite tv for pc to the moon—fully funded by the cryptocurrency.
2022: Tesla/Twitter mania
The Doge mania continued into 2022 when Musk’s automotive firm began accepting Dogecoin for merchandise.
Dogecoin continued to expertise worth bumps when Musk purchased Twitter and rebranded it to X, hinting that it will additionally develop into a funds platform which may, finally, combine the O.G. meme coin.
Issues got here again to chew Musk later that 12 months, although, when an American man hit the billionaire and Tesla and SpaceX with a $258 billion lawsuit for allegedly pumping Dogecoin—an asset with “no worth in any respect,” in response to the unique submitting.
However Musk and his attorneys scored a win this 12 months when a decide sided with them and dismissed the lawsuit, calling the tech entrepreneur’s tweets about Dogecoin “aspirational and puffery,” and noting that “no affordable investor may depend upon them.”
2024-2025: Trump, Musk, and DOGE
Dogecoin had a comparatively quiet 2023, however the meme coin has soared in latest months following Musk’s help of Republican Donald Trump’s marketing campaign for the White Home.
That’s largely as a result of Trump mentioned that Musk would lead a authorities effectivity fee forward of being voted again into the seat of energy; Musk claimed that it will be known as the Division of Authorities Effectivity—an acronym that matches Dogecoin’s ticker.
At any time when Musk talked about his future political function with the so-called DOGE forward of the election, the value of Dogecoin jumped.
However earlier than Trump’s election win, Musk revealed what he has most likely thought all alongside: that he isn’t severely or concerned in Bitcoin, Dogecoin, or any cryptocurrency. He simply likes the meme coin.
“I’m really not actively concerned in crypto,” he mentioned at a rally. “I make Dogecoin jokes and stuff as a result of I simply sort of like Dogecoin—as a result of it’s acquired the very best humorousness and it has canine and memes, and I like all these issues.”
Nonetheless, the value of Dogecoin boomed larger, hitting a three-year excessive worth of $0.48—although it is fallen considerably since, as of this writing. Musk has not too long ago praised Dogecoin’s price of inflation and tweeted out a well-known meme picture of a mud cloud with the Doge face engulfing a metropolis.
And President-elect Trump made it official that Musk would lead the administration’s new division, although deliberate co-lead Vivek Ramaswamy bailed in January as a consequence of different political ambitions.
Trump even bought t-shirts displaying himself and Musk alongside Doge-esque paintings. And the official DOGE web site briefly featured the acquainted DOGE meme imagery, boosting Dogecoin’s worth within the course of.
With Trump again in workplace, Musk’s DOGE began aggressively interrogating U.S. authorities spending, grabbing headlines because it accesses probably delicate citizen information whereas upending skilled norms within the course of.
However Musk departed the federal government function in Might, and a public rift has shaped between the 2 males. Musk made some stunning claims about Trump, and the president has in return mentioned that DOGE ought to scrutinize Musk’s corporations—and that he’d look into having Musk deported.
The general public battle hasn’t performed any favors for Dogecoin’s worth, although it has briefly boosted meme cash impressed by the battle.
Now Elon Musk is again to specializing in his corporations, with latest strikes reigniting hypothesis over whether or not X may combine Dogecoin or different cryptocurrencies for funds.
Editor’s notice: This story was initially printed on November 13, 2024. It was final up to date with new particulars on July 6, 2025.
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