Musk’s involvement with “Dogecoin” took on a new meaning in the halls of government in late 2024, up until recently. Now serving as an advisor to the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (aptly abbreviated DOGE), Musk has been tasked with finding cost savings in the federal bureaucracy. This department caused a wave of interest in Dogecoin leading up to its creation, simply because it shares an acronym with the Dogecoin ticker, DOGE.
Elon Musk’s $5,000 Checks To Every Household
Elon Musk’s DOGE was tasked with finding cost savings in the federal government’s spending. According to the department’s website, DOGE has identified roughly $140 billion in budget savings across federal departments, saving $869.57 per taxpayer, though outside analysts believe the real figure is much smaller.
Amid this push for DOGE’s efficiency, an eye-catching proposal came up on social media to send Americans “DOGE dividend” stimulus checks as a reward for saving taxpayer money. The idea originated from James Fishback, an investment firm CEO and Trump ally, who published a memo in February suggesting that 20% of the government’s savings be returned to citizens as one-time payments.
If Musk’s DOGE team could somehow slash $2 trillion from federal expenditures by its scheduled end in July 2026 (a level Musk himself called a best-case outcome), that 20% would amount to $400 billion, roughly enough to hand every tax-paying U.S. household about $5,000. President Trump quickly picked up the torch, telling an audience on February 19 that he was considering a plan to direct 20% of DOGE-identified savings to taxpayers (and another 20% to reducing national debt).
However, Elon Musk has publicly acknowledged that neither he nor Trump can unilaterally authorize such payouts without approval from Congress. In fact, the initial $5,000 figure was based on an ambitious $2 trillion savings target that is far from certain. Musk has since revised the goal to $1 trillion in cuts, which would halve the proposed dividend to about $2,500 per household.
Dogecoin’s Price Performance and the Potential Impact of Musk’s Stimulus
Dogecoin has been going through its own twists and turns in light of the recent volatility in the crypto market. This volatility stems from a recent price crash, in which Dogecoin fell to a low of $0.1325 in the past 24 hours. The crash came as an extension of a correction that has gripped the entire crypto market since early March, which was recently exacerbated by Trump’s tariffs.
Although Elon Musk recently made known that DOGE has no real connection with Dogecoin, a $5,000 stimulus could have a real influence on taxpayers investing in the crypto market. Government stimulus checks have often found their way into asset markets, including cryptocurrencies. An example of such was the COVID-era relief payments in 2020 and 2021, which coincided with a wave of retail investment that helped to push Bitcoin and Dogecoin to record prices. A similar scenario could play out for Dogecoin if crypto investors receive large DOGE-funded tax refunds.
At the time of writing, Dogecoin is trading at $0.1511, up by 8.8% in the past 24 hours.
