Speculation Squashed As Elon Musk Asserts US Government Has No Plans To Use Dogecoin

Elon Musk may be one of Dogecoin’s most high-profile proponents, but he has clarified that the United States government has no intention of using DOGE, distancing the OG memecoin from the controversial Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E.) he is currently helming.

No DOGE In D.O.G.E: Musk

Elon Musk has dismissed rumors of Dogecoin being incorporated into D.O.G.E.’s operations.

“There are no plans for the government to use Dogecoin or anything as far as I know,” Musk said at a Sunday town hall in Green Bay, Wisconsin, hosted by his America PAC. “They happen to be similar names, but really, we’re literally just trying to make the government 15% more efficient.”

The Tesla/SpaceX CEO revealed that he initially planned to name the project the “Government Efficiency Commission,” but after consulting the online community, he settled on the “Department of Government Efficiency”, which has a similar acronym as the DOGE cryptocurrency.

“I was going to call it Government Efficiency Commission, but that’s a super boring name. Then the internet said it needs to be the Department of Government Efficiency. I was like, ‘The Internet is right.’”

President Donald Trump created the D.O.G.E. agency to slash federal spending and streamline operations. The extragovernmental agency has saved roughly $130 billion since starting in January, data shows, with an average $840 saving for taxpayers. Though the project’s main focus is government efficiency, Musk’s involvement has sparked speculation about crypto-related initiatives.

In February, the Department of Government Efficiency’s official website briefly featured Dogecoin’s Shiba Inu mascot after Trump’s inauguration, further fueling speculation of a crypto tie-in and driving the price of the meme asset higher.

Tesla’s CEO has frequently shared bullish views on Dogecoin through his tweets and public statements. He previously defended Dogecoin’s inflationary model, calling it “a feature” that bolsters its usability for everyday transactions.

Musk recently slammed meme coins and compared them to a casino. He also cautioned investors against putting their life savings into the meme cryptos. Nevertheless, he noted Dogecoin as an outlier here, stating that DOGE only began as a meme coin, alluding that it has ditched that status and matured into a serious crypto.

The price of DOGE is down 5.2% over the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko, in line with a wider market correction.