Author: ZEN, PANews

On November 13th Beijing time, US President-elect Trump announced on his "Truth Social" platform that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and he compared the department's duties to the Manhattan Project during World War II, describing it as a core part of the "Save America" movement.

The main goal of DOGE is to significantly reduce the 'waste and fraud' in the US government's $6.5 trillion annual budget. The department is expected to operate independently. However, it will work closely with the White House and the Office of Management and Budget to guide structural reforms. In the announcement, Trump expressed confidence that by July 4, 2026 (the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States), the US will become a 'smaller, more efficient, and less bureaucratic government'.

Since Trump's victory, his number one supporter Musk has become the second biggest winner, with a substantial increase in his assets, firmly holding the title of the world's richest person. Along with this, closely related Dogecoin (DOGE) (for distinction, all DOGE below is referred to as 'dogecoin'), Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE, abbreviated in the following text), and Cryptocurrencies such as X Empire (X) with him as the theme are all soaring To The Moon.

According to CoinMarketCap data, as of November 14th, Dogecoin has pumped over 107% in the past week, reaching a high of nearly $0.43 around 5:00 PM on November 12th, the highest point in over three years. In addition, Musk has been using his personal influence to spread the story of the deceased internet-famous squirrel Peanut, and with Musk commenting, 'America is saved by a squirrel and memes,' it has also driven a rapid pump in Peanut the Squirrel (PNUT), with its price skyrocketing from around $0.01 on November 7th to $2.02, pushing its Market Cap over $2 billion.

However, after the announcement of the establishment of the Efficiency Department of the Government, despite Musk continuously releasing messages or interacting with people on X regarding this "good news," and claiming that "we finally have the power to delete cumbersome regulations that are not beneficial to the public interest," the expectation of $1 on X is countless. However, Dogecoin did not continue the previous enthusiastic pump sentiment, only maintaining around $0.4 fluctuation. On the other hand, DOGE, a token with a smaller market capitalization launched in August this year, doubled in price within less than 12 hours, and its market capitalization has exceeded $450 million.

"Carefully Planned" D.O.G.E

On August 13th this year, Trump and Musk connected live on the X platform, and the two top political and business leaders attracted a huge following worldwide. 'I think we need a government efficiency committee to determine where it's reasonable for us to spend money. Where it's unreasonable for us to spend money?' Musk suggested to Trump during the live stream, saying 'We need to live within our means.'

A few days later, Musk released a photo on the X platform that looked like it was generated by artificial intelligence. In the photo, he stood on a podium labeled 'Department of Government Efficiency' and captioned 'I'm ready to serve.' This is also the first time this department has been formally proposed. The abbreviation for the special agency named by Musk happens to be D.O.G.E, indicating that he seems to be intentionally connecting his new role in politics with the cryptocurrency he pioneered.

However, as the encryption market is currently in a slump, it remains uncertain who will take the presidency. Therefore, Musk's 'product placement' this time did not receive a market response, and the DOGE price did not see a significant pump. Cryptocurrency KOL @IncomeSharks commented below, saying, 'Elon's tweets about $DOGE no longer affect the price.'

In early September, Trump publicly agreed to Musk's request. In a series of new economic plans he announced, one of them was to establish a government efficiency commission. He said that once elected back to the White House, Musk would lead the commission, which would be responsible for conducting a comprehensive financial and performance audit of the entire federal government and making major reform recommendations.

However, in the announcement just released by Trump, he still actively cooperated with Musk, and changed the department to be called D.O.G.E. It should be pointed out that D.O.G.E is not an official government department. In a statement, Trump said that Musk and Ramaswamy will provide "advice and guidance" to the White House outside of the government. It is not clear how the organization will operate at present. It may be subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which specifies how external groups providing advice to the government should operate and be accountable to the public.

It is worth mentioning that Vivek, another leader of the department and former presidential candidate, is considered one of the biggest contributors to Trump and the Republican Party's shift in stance towards Cryptocurrency. Since January of this year, he has been advising and influencing Trump on BTC and digital asset, and his influence in the core circle is growing. Vivek has also proposed that the US dollar should be supported by a basket of goods, and over time, BTC may also be included.

Will the new institution have a negative impact on the DOGE token?

Considering Musk's strong support for the meme and asset DOGE, it is widely believed in the industry that his involvement in DOGE may be a good sign for memecoins and even the cryptocurrency industry as a whole. In recent days, Musk's frequent interactions with DOGE-related tweet content on Twitter seem to confirm this.

However, many people also believe that Musk's move may have a negative impact on DOGE. Freelance journalist Connor Sephton expressed in an article that after reading endless reports about the DOGE sector, he believes that this may ultimately have a disastrous impact on the popularity of DOGE. If the government project gains brand recognition and widespread coverage, it could overshadow the exposure of DOGE.

"Musk posts countless posts to his 204 million fans every day, sometimes about X, sometimes about SpaceX. Among them are some low-quality jokes, or some false information. But in recent months, there has been almost no mention of Cryptocurrency, and there will be even fewer mentions in the future," Sephton said. Musk is transforming from someone who jokes about X to someone who directly affects world events and the lives of millions of Americans. Although Musk's new role is positioned as an external government role, he is highly valued by the president, and his conversation with Ukrainian President Zelensky, along with Trump, confirms this.

Sephton further added: "If you peel back the layers of Musk, it's easy to see why he was initially so obsessed with Dogecoin: he wanted influence. He could move the market with a single tweet, and that in itself fascinated him." He believes that Musk's influence has now peaked, which means he can now focus on bigger goals: power. The Department of Efficiency's logo marks the beginning of his political ambitions, and in the coming months and years, he will undoubtedly seek greater influence. All of this means that DOGE, i.e. Crypto Assets, is now quite redundant for Musk, and he will sell these things and focus on the next big thing.

In addition, many people are worried about whether Musk's DOGE can play an active role in the Trump administration. Pessimistically, if the institution ends up "discredited", DOGE itself could also be affected. His appointment has been criticized by Civic Public Interest Group, a progressive consumer rights nongovernmental organization that has questioned several policies of Mr. Trump's first term. "Not only is Musk ignorant of government efficiency and regulation, his own businesses often violate the rules he is about to crack down," co-chairwoman Lisa Gilbert said in a statement.

Deutsche Bank forex and commodities research director Ulrich Leuchtmann is also not optimistic about the prospects of DOGE. He even believes that this will have disastrous consequences for the U.S. economy: "Musk does not believe in a gradual and cautious approach. I don't believe he can take a wise step. Some people will say that their advice is just advice, and the president and Congress are in front when it comes to actual implementation. But if the advice will not be implemented, why establish such a body? The president will appear indecisive, which is exactly what Trump does not want to see."