$DOGE : From Meme to Market Madness
Originally created as a joke in 2013 by Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, Dogecoin was meant to mock crypto hype. Inspired by the Shiba Inu “Doge” meme, it was never intended to be taken seriously.

That changed when Elon Musk got involved.

His tweets and endorsements turned Dogecoin into a speculative asset with real market consequences. What started as parody became performance art—with financial impact.

“Musk blurred the line between parody and promotion,” said Erwin Voloder of the European Blockchain Association. “Without him, DOGE might have stayed an internet joke. With him, it became a symbol of speculative absurdity.”

In 2019, a single tweet from Musk doubled DOGE’s price in two days. In 2021, he called it “the people’s crypto,” triggering a 50% spike in trading volume. But his influence also brought volatility. When he joked that Dogecoin was “a hustle” on SNL, the price dropped by over 30% in hours.

In early 2025, Trump appointed Musk head of a new cost-cutting agency—named the Department of Government Efficiency or D.O.G.E. The internet went wild, and $DOGE jumped 13% in 15 minutes.

But hype didn’t last.

Since the official D.O.G.E. launch, Dogecoin’s price has dropped from $0.36 to $0.15. A Finbold report revealed a sharp decline in whale wallets: addresses holding $1M–$9.99M in $DOGE fell by 40%, and those with over $10M dropped by 47%.

The verdict? Dogecoin whales are dumping, and Musk’s magic may be fading.