The Department of Government Efficiency, a satirical token inspired by discussions between Ex-President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, was one of the best-performing cryptocurrencies during the weekend. 

Elon Musk promotes Department of Government Efficiency

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) surged to $0.02850, and is currently hovering at around $0.02309 at last check Sunday.

That’s a spike of over 33,000% from its lowest point in September.

DOGE jumped after Musk, considered the world’s wealthiest individual, posted his idea for a government department after chatting with Trump on X.com in August.

“You’re the greatest cutter,” Trump told Musk, referring to layoffs at Tesla. “I need an Elon Musk — I need somebody that has a lot of strength and courage and smarts. I want to close up the Department of Education, move education back to the states.”

Trump has pledged to appoint Musk to head the proposed ‘government efficiency commission’ if he is re-elected in November. Musk is currently in charge of the social media platform X.com, car manufacturer Tesla and aerospace firm SpaceX.  

A Polymarket poll with over $1.1 billion in assets gives current Vice President and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris a higher chance of winning the general election. A recent New York Times poll also found that Harris and Trump are neck and neck in Michigan and Wisconsin.

Harris has a razor-thin lead across most swing states.

Meanwhile, data shows that the Department of Government Efficiency crypto has continued to gain fans. According to Coincarp, the number of holders has risen to a record high of 5,916, higher than the September low of 1,627. 

The Department Of Government Efficiency token — not to be confused with Dogecoin, as both are abbreviated with the same acronym — jumped in a high-volume environment.

The 24-hour volume soared to over $10 million. Most of this volume was in exchanges like LBank and Xt.com.

The Musk gag coin’s popularity coincides with the spike in meme coin popularity. Each day, developers are capitalizing on all types of emerging themes and trends to launch tokens.

For example, Moo Deng (MOODENG), a token themed after a viral Thai hippo, has accumulated over $300 million in market cap. 

Additionally, political-themed tokens have enjoyed a combined market cap of over $639 million. The biggest ones are ConstitutionDAO, MAGA (TRUMP), MAGA Hat, and Doland Tremp. 

These tokens could do well in the near term as analysts predict a new meme coin supercycle as we saw during the last bull run in 2020 as the Federal Reserve slashed interest rates.

Moo Deng, the recently launched Solana Pump.fun token, continued rising on Saturday, reaching an all-time high as the fear of missing out set in.

Moo Deng (MOODENG), a hippo-themed token, jumped to a record high of $0.3495, bringing the weekly gains to over 700%. Its market cap has soared to over $300 million, making it the biggest token in the Pump.fun ecosystem.

Moo Deng holders are rising

The rally triggered FOMO, or ‘fear of missing out,’ among traders, as evidenced by the rising number of holders.

Coincarp data shows an uptick in the number of holders — over 24,140. That’s much higher than this week’s low of 9,000. Solscan data shows that the holders have hit 27,000.

There are signs that whales are accumulating tokens. According to Lookonchain, a whale acquired Moo Deng tokens worth over $1.59 million.

The whale now holds Moo Deng tokens worth $3.57 million.

Minting Millionaires

Data by DexScreener shows one trader who bought coins worth $7,172 and made $1 million in profit. Another trader spent $14,000 and exited with a $976,000 profit within a few days. 

However, some traders have missed an opportunity by exiting very early. One of them sold tokens worth $297, which would now be worth over $6.3 million.

Moo Deng’s surge happened as the meme coin recovery accelerated. Most of these tokens have soared by double digits in the last seven days. Dogecoin (DOGE), the biggest meme coin, rose by 15.8%, while Shiba Inu (SHIB) pumped by 35%. 

Popcat (POPCAT), a top Solana (SOL) token, achieved a market cap of $1 billion for the first time, while the total valuation of all of these coins has jumped to over $55 billion. 

Fear and greed index rises

Many investors are embracing a risk-on sentiment after the Fed slashed interest rates and the Chinese government announced a series of stimulus measures.

Central banks in the U.S., Europe, and most Asian countries have slashed rates to prevent a hard landing. Subsequently, the crypto fear and greed index approached the greed zone of 60.

The CNN Money index has risen to the greed area of 68 while the US dollar index has dropped to $100.40.

The risk for Moo Deng investors is that most cryptocurrencies are highly volatile. Typically, when a coin surges, there is always a risk of a harsh reversal. 

For example, Shiba Inu initially soared to a record high of $0.000088 in 2021 and then crashed by over 93% to $0.0000058 in 2022. Dogecoin also soared to an all-time high of $0.4845 and has dropped by 74% to the current $0.1230.

American investors appear to be regaining their appetite for risk, as new exchange-traded funds (ETFs) giving a leveraged position to MicroStrategy stock are booming.

MSTX, which launched in August, now has $357.6 million in assets under management. The fund aims to give investors daily leveraged investment results of 1.75 times (or 175% of) the daily percentage change in MicroStrategy stock. 

Meanwhile, MSTU—an even riskier ETF that launched last week—gives 2 times (or 200% of) the leveraged investment results. The product has notched huge inflows and now has over $80 million in assets. 

The two ETFs are “long leverage” funds, meaning they hold debt to amplify their positions. Returns for investors can be greater than the tracked asset—but that means losses can also be painful.

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said on Twitter (aka X) Friday that he didn’t think investors would want such risky investments—at least not at this rate. “I didn’t think there was room for both (especially so quickly),” he wrote, further describing their popularity as “wild.”

Balchunas previously described such products as the “ghost pepper of ETF hot sauce” due to their expected extreme levels of volatility.

MicroStrategy is a public company that focuses on data-analyzing software. But in 2020, it put Bitcoin on its balance sheet as part of a strategy to get returns for its investors. 

Its stock has since shot through the roof—making it one of the best-performing public-traded U.S. companies—and the company hasn’t stopped buying the cryptocurrency. The company now holds 252,220 Bitcoin, valued at $16.6 billion today, with multiple buys announced in recent weeks.

Now, MicroStrategy has rebranded itself as a “Bitcoin development company” that securitizes the cryptocurrency: investors buy the company’s stock to get exposure to the biggest and oldest digital asset. The company has also explored other ventures in the Bitcoin space, such as the Lightning Network, and putting digital identities on the biggest crypto network. 

The two new ETFs based around MicroStrategy stock are risky, but could promise big gains for investors looking for leveraged exposure to Bitcoin. In fact, when MSTX launched, the company behind the ETF, Defiance ETFs, warned investors that the fund was “not intended to be used by, and is not appropriate for, investors who do not intend to actively monitor and manage their portfolios.”

Edited by Andrew Hayward