Musk and DOGE: How the billionaire became the "Doge Father"

With the return of the $DOGE currency

DOGE

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In late last year and early 2025, some may wonder: where did this currency come from? What is its use? And what is the connection between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and it?

The original meme coin's boom is largely credited to the richest man in the world. Musk's obsession with outrageous posting helped drive the currency to become one of the top 10 cryptocurrencies.

It has been a strange journey over the past few years, culminating in Musk being appointed to lead a government agency called DOGE - yes, really. But we will explain everything.

2018: What is $DOGE?

Dogecoin is the largest and oldest meme coin and the second largest cryptocurrency based on proof of work. It was created in 2013 as a joke by developers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer.

The idea was to mock the vast number of altcoins and crypto projects that entered the market after Bitcoin's rapid rise, and the currency enjoyed relative obscurity and a low price during its early years.

But then Musk appeared. The eccentric billionaire asked Palmer in a 2018 tweet for help with a Twitter bot problem. Scammers had created several high-profile fake accounts, including Musk's account, to promote crypto scams. Scams usually post fake Ethereum giveaways.

This was Musk's first real interest shown in Dogecoin.

2019: Pumping Begins

Musk began pumping Dogecoin the following year. In April 2019, he wrote in response to a screenshot of a poll from the official Dogecoin account asking who should be the CEO of the cryptocurrency: "Dogecoin might be my favorite cryptocurrency." "It's just so cool."

This post will be the first of many that caused the asset's value to skyrocket. Shortly after Musk's first tweet about $DOGE, the market value of the currency reached $400 million and it was listed on the cryptocurrency exchange Huobi.

However, Musk did not stop there: he briefly described himself as the CEO of Dogecoin on Twitter before continuing to tweet questioning whether the currency was "really a valid form of currency" or posting memes related to the original dog coin.

2020/2021: The Bull Run Arrives

Musk continued to elevate Dogecoin's price from time to time with his tweets, but things really took off during the 2021 bull run. Major exchanges like Coinbase Pro listed Dogecoin, and the currency gained increasing popularity, not to mention growing mainstream awareness.

Dogecoin achieved a market value exceeding that of many companies listed on the S&P 500. Developers exclusively told Dec,rypt that they had been secretly working with Musk since 2019 to make the currency a valid payment method and an eco-friendly, cheaper alternative to Bitcoin.

But things got weirder when Musk called himself "Doge father" before a comedic segment on "Saturday Night Live" about the cryptocurrency - again leading to a significant spike in the asset's price. Dogecoin jumped to its all-time high of around $0.73 at that time.

Musk's appearance on "SNL" turned out to be disappointing for #DOGE fans, as SpaceX's CEO and his mother's hints at the currency ultimately led to its price drop. Nevertheless, it continued to bring the bizarre world of meme coins into the mainstream.

Later that year, Musk announced that his rocket company, SpaceX, would launch a satellite to the moon - fully funded by the cryptocurrency.

2022: Tesla/Twitter Obsession

The Dogecoin craze continued until 2022 when Musk's space company began accepting Dogecoin for merchandise.

Dogecoin continued to face price spikes when Musk bought Twitter and renamed it to X, hinting that it would also become a payment platform that could eventually integrate the original meme coin.

But things came back to hurt Musk later that year when an American man sued the billionaire and his companies Tesla and SpaceX for $258 billion, claiming he had pumped Dogecoin - an asset that is "of no value at all," according to the original filing.

But Musk and his lawyers scored a victory this year when a judge sided with them and dismissed the lawsuit, describing the tech entrepreneur's tweets about Dogecoin as "ambitious and exaggerated," noting that "no reasonable investor could rely on them."

2024-2025: Trump, Musk, and Dogecoin

Dogecoin experienced a relatively quiet 2023, but the meme coin surged in recent months after Musk supported Republican Donald Trump's campaign for the White House.

This was largely due to Trump saying Musk would lead a government efficiency committee before being re-elected to a seat of power; Musk claimed it would be called the "Department of Government Efficiency," an acronym matching Dogecoin's symbol.

Whenever Musk mentioned his future political role with what is called "Dogecoin" before the elections, Dogecoin's price rose.

But before Trump's election victory, Musk revealed what he had likely been thinking from the start: that he wasn't seriously interested or involved in Bitcoin, Dogecoin, or any other cryptocurrency. He simply likes the meme coin.

He said at a rally: "I'm actually not actively involved in the cryptocurrency space. I'm just making jokes about Dogecoin and all that because I kind of like Dogecoin - it has the best sense of humor and has dogs and memes, and I love all of that."

However, the price of Dogecoin surged significantly, reaching its highest price in three years at $0.48 - although it has since dropped significantly, as of this writing. Musk recently praised Dogecoin's inflation rate and posted a familiar meme image of a dust cloud with Dogecoin's face swallowing a city.

President-elect Trump officially announced that Musk would lead the new administration's agency, despite the planned co-leader Vivek Ramaswamy withdrawing in January due to other political ambitions.

Trump even sold shirts showing himself and Musk alongside Dogecoin-style artwork. The official Dogecoin website briefly displayed familiar Dogecoin meme images, leading to a price spike.

With Trump's return to office, Dogecoin, led by Musk, began to fiercely investigate U.S. government spending, making headlines for reaching potentially sensitive citizen data, thereby violating professional standards.

But Musk left his government position in May, and a public feud arose between the two men. Musk made some shocking claims about Trump, and in return, the president said that Dogecoin should audit Musk's companies and that he would consider deportation.

This public feud did not improve Dogecoin's price, although it briefly boosted meme coins inspired by this conflict.

Elon Musk is now back to focusing on his companies, as recent moves have reignited speculation about whether X will integrate Dogecoin or other cryptocurrencies into payments.

Editor's Note: This story was originally published on November 13, 2024. It was last updated with new details on July 6, 2025.

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