DOGE Shutdown

Elon Musk and Donald Trump nicely leveraged public ignorance around the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and Dogecoin (also DOGE) in ways that helped pump Dogecoin’s price temporarily.

Pump and dump?

When the Department of Government Efficiency was publicly announced, with Musk and Trump backing it, Dogecoin’s price spiked noticeably. Reports show Dogecoin rose up to around 20 % following the announcement. Similarly, when the “DOGE” official website was launched (with the Dogecoin logo displayed), Dogecoin price jumped around 13 % within minutes. Earlier, even a mention of the proposed DOGE in public by Musk at a town hall caused a 7-10 % rise in DOGE prices. And when Musk’s own relationship with Trump “went bad” and Musk departed the agency, the cryptocurrency’s value dropped, fell ~10 % the day after news of Musk leaving the administration.

Looks a lot like pump and dump one might say.

The use of the same acronym (DOGE) and using the Dogecoin logo on the government linked website added a veneer of legitimacy or “officialness,” which many retail investors may have misinterpreted as a government backing. That blurring between “official agency” and “meme-coin name” is exactly what can drive speculative interest.

The timing of announcements

Agency creation - price spikes, website launch - instant jump, all these match classic patterns of pump and dump.

Many moves surely look like they were designed to stir momentum and allow early holders to benefit.

Note: We can’t call it an outright scam or guaranteed pump and dump without clear proof, which, of course we don’t have.

DOGE Red Flags

While DOGE was publicly framed as a cost-cutting, modernization, and “efficiency” program, the evidence strongly suggests it functioned as:

1. A centralized power hub with minimal oversight

DOGE accumulated broad access across federal systems while shielding itself from normal transparency rules. This created a concentration of power without the checks needed to prevent misuse or political manipulation.

2. An initiative driven more by optics than real efficiency

DOGE’s advertised savings were often unverifiable, internally inconsistent, or based on misleading accounting. The program appeared designed to perform efficiency - more political theater than measurable governance reform.

3. A disruptor of essential government capacity

By pushing rapid staff cuts and sidelining expertise, DOGE weakened technical competence of multiple agencies. This produced short-term chaos and long-term vulnerabilities that likely outweigh any temporary savings.

4. A legally unstable experiment

Federal court rulings found parts of DOGE’s actions unlawful, describing them as “gross usurpation of power.” This indicates a fundamental mismatch between DOGE’s ambitions and its legal authority to remake government structures.

5. A project that collapsed under its own contradictions

In the end, DOGE was quietly dissolved ahead of schedule, its workforce drained, its leadership splintered, and its projects stalled. The shutdown strongly signals that DOGE lacked sustainable strategy, lawful grounding, or internal competence.

Approximately 300,000 federal employees were laid off due to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative, with significant impacts on public sector employment.

Here lies the programs sacked by DOGE

Program / Agency / Area	What happened under DOGE / What was cut / Effect
Institute of Education Sciences (IES) the research and data-analysis arm of the U.S. Department of Education	DOGE terminated approximately $900 million in education-research and data-related contracts, cancelling 89–169 contracts in early 2025. As a result, many longstanding studies, e.g. longitudinal student-performance tracking, research into school safety, high-school science-course completion, studies on reading, special-education, disability support, etc. — were abruptly ended.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) programs & grants across multiple agencies (especially in education)	In early 2025, DOGE canceled 29 DEI–related grants worth ~ $101 million. Many DEI-related contracts and training grants were canceled (as part of a broader purge of DEI initiatives in the federal government).
Multiple contracts across different federal agencies (grants, consulting, service, foreign aid, IT, etc.)	By May 2025, DOGE listed tens of thousands of terminated contracts. One public database summary estimates the total “potential value” of terminated contracts at ≈ $71.1 billion (though not all were necessarily active or fully paid). TERM-inations include consulting contracts, aid programs, grants, IT contracts, and more.
Foreign-aid / international development programs, through United States Agency for International Development (USAID) & Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)	DOGE reportedly targeted USAID heavily. Some grants (such as a $2.63 billion grant to a vaccine initiative via the foundation - Gavi Foundation) were cancelled. DOGE also ordered the shutdown of MCC, a U.S. foreign-aid agency, instructing closure of its programs and offering staff early retirement or administrative leave. Many USAID aid/grant programs (global health, development, climate-related, etc.) were reportedly ended or slashed.
Leases, contracts and grants across various agencies (often services, studies, leases, consulting, non-essential projects)	According to one tracking source, DOGE cancelled/freed up numerous leases and contracts across agencies, targeting what it deemed low-impact, outdated or redundant work. The terminations cover a broad mix: social program contracts, grants to nonprofits, research, technical assistance, consulting contracts, etc.
Technology / agency-internal units that provide shared services or software infrastructure (e.g. design/IT offices)	DOGE reportedly eliminated certain technology or efficiency-oriented offices, e.g. abolished parts of agencies’ digital-service units under the rationale of “non-essential” status.