Musk Boldly Announces 'DOGE to Replace the Dollar' During Live Stream
In the early hours of May 6, Elon Musk suddenly raised his phone during a Trump campaign live stream: "I recommend using this for more cost-effective payments"—the screen displayed a Dogecoin wallet interface. When the host pressed for whether he was joking, he responded directly: "Letting DOGE replace the dollar is the ultimate freedom." This 30-second video surpassed 200 million views on the X platform.
This cryptocurrency, born from a toilet joke in 2013, is now being used to pay for taxi fares in Dubai, buy eggs in Walmart parking lots, and even donate to the Vatican Church. Programmer Billy Markus probably never imagined that this Shiba Inu could go this far when he modified the Bitcoin code in three days.
The wild growth of payment scenarios is more persuasive than any publicity. In the slums of Manila, Philippines, young people refer to DOGE futures contracts as "electronic fried chicken"—because the profits are enough for daily extras. The Kardashian family live-streamed an auction for a diamond-studded necklace last month, selling for 12,000 DOGE (approximately $8,400), taking only 10 seconds from bidding to delivery.
The Layer 1 update completed in 2025 pushed Dogecoin's transaction speed to 3,200 transactions per second, with fees reduced to about $0.0003. Compared to Visa's average transaction processing capability of 1,700 per second, this meme coin, once mocked as a "technological antique," suddenly has the confidence to challenge traditional payments.
Wall Street is beginning to reassess the value of this "mad dog." Coinpedia provided a forecast price of $1.30 for January 2026 in its latest report, citing the discovery of a hidden DOGE payment module in Tesla wallet code. More aggressive analysts believe that if the X platform fully integrates DOGE payments, its market value could reach $200 billion.
However, skepticism has never disappeared. Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger insisted during his lifetime that "DOGE is a casino chip," while Federal Reserve Chairman Powell clearly stated in a hearing that "cryptocurrencies cannot replace fiat currencies." These criticisms point to the same soft spot: a currency without national sovereignty backing is ultimately a castle in the sand.
Musk clearly understands this well. He emphasized during the live stream that "DOGE transfers are as simple as sending a text message," which precisely hits the pain point for cross-border remittance users. While Western Union charges a 6% fee, DOGE only requires a cost of 0.002%.
