From inception to demise in just 294 days: How DOGE became yet another bubble as a political Meme coin

There is a piece of news that has been circulating in the community these days—the government department named after Dogecoin, DOGE, from Trump’s first day in office announced its establishment, and after eight months, it was quietly disbanded, with the entire cycle lasting only 294 days. Coincidentally, this time span is remarkably similar to the lifecycle of those fleeting Meme coins in the crypto market.

Elon Musk’s Symbolic Politics Experiment

On January 20, 2025, the day Trump was sworn in, he signed an executive order to establish the Department of Efficiency (DOGE), a name directly inspired by Dogecoin. As a seasoned supporter of Dogecoin, Musk directly embedded meme culture into American politics.

The official website of DOGE is filled with crypto elements—familiar Dogecoin logos, Shiba Inu images. This design style completely breaks the dull and rigid visual language typical of government agencies. Musk’s promotion on X platform further reinforced its meme nature: a photo holding a chainsaw with the caption “This is for bureaucratic inefficiency.” This approach is exactly the same as when he promoted Dogecoin—leveraging internet culture, using humor to subvert tradition, and trying to win the approval of young people and internet natives.

Honestly, this tactic has been repeatedly successful in the crypto community. But applying it at the national government level is a different story.

Silicon Valley Startup Model Meets Washington

DOGE’s operation was completely unlike traditional government departments. Musk recruited about 50 young people in their twenties, these “kids” dressed in hoodies and jeans, fueled by Red Bull, running around federal agencies all day. In just three weeks, they managed to place personnel, control funding flows, and screen contract projects across major agencies.

The speed was rapid. The approach was radical. They required federal employees to submit weekly reports; those who didn’t were treated as resignations; those absent were handled as administrative leave. This method works in startups, but in the machinery of the state, it’s a different matter altogether.

AI technology became the core tool of DOGE. From contract funding to employee travel reimbursements, everything was data-driven. They analyzed idle office buildings with AI, immediately leased them out, claiming to save $150 million. This “rapid iteration, rule-breaking” Silicon Valley spirit sparked intense conflicts within Washington’s political ecosystem.

Grand Promises vs. Harsh Reality

Here’s the problem: the grand scale of DOGE’s initial promises contrasted sharply with the awkward reality.

Musk claimed to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget. Ramachandran even called for eliminating 70% of federal government employees. These figures sound as eye-catching as exaggerated claims in the crypto world.

But after half a year? DOGE claimed to have cut $16 billion in spending. Do the math yourself—this is less than one-eighth of the original target.

What’s more painful is a report from the Senate Permanent Investigations Subcommittee. They pointed out that DOGE “wasted” over $21 billion in federal funds within six months. The Department of Energy’s loan programs were frozen, costing the government about $263 million in lost interest income; the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) shut down, leading to the spoilage of about $110 million worth of food and medicine stored in warehouses.

This is quite embarrassing. Originally meant to “reduce waste,” it ended up creating more waste.

DOGE also faces nearly 20 lawsuits, including violations of the Privacy Act, unauthorized access to sensitive government data, and more. Democratic attorneys general from 14 states have directly sued Musk and Trump, claiming that the powers granted to Musk by Trump violate the constitutional appointment and removal clauses.

From High-Profile Launch to Quiet Disbandment

In May this year, Musk announced he was stepping down from DOGE. He had a public clash with Trump over a bill called “Big and Beautiful.” By summer, DOGE personnel had gradually evacuated the headquarters, security posts disappeared, and access badges were no longer valid.

Last week, Scott Cooper, director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, publicly confirmed that DOGE no longer exists. Its functions have been absorbed into the Office of Personnel Management. The once-symbolic government-wide hiring freeze was also lifted.

Members of the DOGE team are not unemployed. Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia is now in charge of the National Design Studio; Zachary Treil serves as the CTO of the Department of Health and Human Services. In other words, DOGE as an independent experiment has ended, but some of its ideas have been integrated into traditional government structures.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s comment on social media was the most poignant: “DOGE fought the Swamp, but the Swamp won.”

The Political Failure of Crypto Symbols

This experiment is quite interesting. Musk used meme language from crypto culture to reshape the U.S. government, creating noise and heat in the short term. But after 294 days, when the symbolic hype faded, the traditional political structure remained the same.

What does this tell us? Symbols and narratives can indeed rally consensus and create the illusion of change in the short term. But if they are detached from practical technological implementation and value creation, they are ultimately castles in the air.

Interestingly, this logic applies equally in the crypto space. How many Meme coins have skyrocketed overnight thanks to super symbols and community enthusiasm, only to end up zero? Dogecoin’s survival today isn’t because of its meme nature, but because it has real technical foundations and use cases.

The story of the DOGE department teaches us: when the meme symbol’s hype fades, what truly endures are those technologies and projects that solve real problems. Politics is like that, and so is crypto.