Dogecoin (DOGE), dubbed “the people’s crypto” by Elon Musk, dropped as much as 12.5% yesterday (-%22 in total over the previous week). As of now, the coin is down 7.29%.
The plunge coincides with Musk’s formal exit from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the Trump administration initiative at the core of Musk’s plan to modernize information technology federal efficiency.
Musk and Trump have been squabbling for some time now, with the former criticizing the latter’s recent spending bill and its consequences for the electric vehicle (EV) sector.
Yesterday, Musk even claimed Trump would have lost the election without his backing, prompting Trump to threaten to cancel federal contracts with his companies.
Dogecoin price plunges
Given that it’s a meme coin, Dogecoin’s value is more reactive to celebrity influence than actual fundamentals. In particular, it is reactive to Musk’s public moves.
Recall, for example, that Dogecoin rose 15% in 2022 when Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) started accepting it as a valid payment method. More recently, the coin surged following Trump’s victory in the 2024 elections thanks to Trump’s openly friendly disposition towards Musk.
With yesterday’s plunge, Dogecoin dropped from $0.193 to $0.169, the lowest it had been since May 7. Between 16:00-20:00 (12:00–16:00 EST), the trading volume exceeded 1 billion units, which is nearly 5x the average.
While the coin has somewhat stabilized since, sitting around $0.175 as of the time of writing, the outlook remains negative due to Musk’s political moves becoming more unpredictable.
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