From viral dog to the US government: What is Doge and how is Elon Musk involved?

By Olivia Mustafa, ITV News Producer
After throwing his weight behind Donald Trump’s campaign, Elon Musk has kickstarted his political career – with Trump appointing him joint head of the new Department of Government Efficiency, alongside Vivek Ramaswamy.
The task force’s acronym “DOGE” might seem like nothing special, but the name is no coincidence. It refers to a Japanese dog that later became a meme, and even a cryptocurrency.
But how did the owner of X, Tesla and SpaceX get here – and what does a Shiba Inu rescue dog have to do with bitcoin, Musk and the US government?
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2008: Kabosu is adopted
In November 2008, a Japanese schoolteacher rescued a Shiba Inu dog from an animal shelter. The name of the breed, which was designated a part of Japan’s cultural heritage in the 1930s, translates to “small dog”.
Aksuto Sato called her new pet Kabosu, and posted photos of her on her blog.
2010: Photos of ‘doge’ become a meme
One of the images shared by Ms Sato, which pictured Kabosu looking sideways with crossed legs and appearing to raise her eyebrows, went viral in the early 2010s.
Social media users called Kabuso “Doge” – a purposeful misspelling of the word dog. The trend took off on Reddit, with memes using pictures of Kabosu overlayed with ironic text in the Comic Sans font.
Ms Sato told The Verge she was “taken aback” when she first discovered her pet had been turned into a meme.
“It felt very strange to see her face there. It was a Kabosu that I didn’t know,” she said.
2013: Dogecoin is born
Two American software engineers took their love for Doge a step further in 2013, creating a cryptocurrency called “Dogecoin”.
Crypto is a digital form of currency which can be bought, invested in and exchanged.
Billy Markus sought to find a way to set his crypto apart from Bitcoin, which then had begun to attract attention.
He then joined forces with Jackson Palmer, who bought an online domain called dogecoin.com – also a reference to the popular meme.
2020: Doge voted ‘meme of the decade’
In 2020, Doge was voted Meme of the Decade after a poll on Know Your Meme, a website dedicated to demystifying and categorising internet jokes and trends.
2021: Musk gets behind Dogecoin
Since its creation, the Dogecoin currency garnered a cult-like following on Reddit. It became the fifth most valuable currency in 2021, with $50 billion (£39.2 billion) worth of Dogecoin in circulation.
Musk invested in Dogecoin and began posting on Twitter about having bought the currency, further hiking its value.
April 2021 saw a surge in demand for the currency bring Robinhood offline, a crypto trading system.
2022: Tesla starts accepting Dogecoin
Musk bought Twitter in 2022 and rebranded the social media platform to X, changing the iconic bird logo to a picture of Doge.
Earlier that year, the value of Dogecoin spiked after Musk said the currency could be used to buy merchandise for his electric car company, Tesla.
May 2024: Kabosu dies
Ms Sato took to her blog earlier this year to confirm Kabosu had died at the age of 19 after she “fell into a deep sleep”.
Two years prior, she was diagnosed with acute cholangiohepatitis and chronic lymphoma leukemia, Ms Sato said.
The creators of Dogecoin posted on X: “She was a being who knew only happiness and limitless love.”Please keep her spirit and her family in your heart, and most importantly carry her with you as your story continues – we are all fortunate for hers to have touched and shaped ours.”
September 2024: Musk proposes new US government department
Musk gave president elect Donald Trump his full support throughout the race to the White House, appearing at rallies and holding interviews on his social media platform X.
He even launched a lottery which offered registered voters in swing states the chance to win $1 million (£784,000) if they signed a pro-US constitution petition promoted by Musk’s campaign group.
When Trump unveiled his economic proposals in September 2024, he announced Musk had agreed to lead a new government efficiency commission.
Musk took to X, joking that the new job would see him lead a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
November 2024: Musk appointed as DOGE’s co-commissioner
That brings us to today, where Musk has officially been handed the role of DOGE co-commissioner alongside former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
Trump said the pair will work to “dismantle government bureaucracy”.
“Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies,” he said.
After the announcement, Musk, posted on his platform X: “Department of Government Efficiency. The merch will be (fire emojis).”
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