The year in Dogecoin 2025: DOGE goes political and commercial

It started as a joke, but this year Dogecoin was embraced by institutions, bought up by public companies, and its namesake was shared with a highly controversial US government initiative led by billionaire Elon Musk.

Despite this, the original meme coin failed to set a new all-time record, much to the dismay of its diehard fanbase. As of December 15, DOGE has wiped out all gains made through 2025 and is down about 65% over the course of twelve months.

As a result, Dogecoin has had a difficult year; it has moved away from its grassroots ethos, without the supposed financial benefits. However, the Dogecoin builders believe the project is poised for an explosive 2026.

Here’s a look back at Dogecoin in 2025.

The Government’s Ministry of Efficiency

In late 2024, the Trump administration positioned Musk as the public face of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, even though his formal authority within the agency later became a point of contention.

The department’s goal was to cut government spending as much as possible. This year the madness continued, with Dogecoin somehow taking center stage.

Minutes after President Trump’s inauguration, the Musk-led department received a court case by public interest law firm National Security Counselors. The 30 pages complaint alleged that DOGE is operating illegally as a federal advisory committee because it violates the laws set forth in the Federal Advisory Committee Act on hiring, disclosures, and other matters.

The next day, the Dogecoin logo appeared on the Department of Government Efficiency website. As a result, the meme coin rose 14% to a market cap of $58 billion. The logo was soon there DELETEDwhich led to the token being dumped, with the site becoming a place to keep track of all the government spending cuts that DOGE was apparently making.

Musk even considered according to the use of a public blockchain for the agency Bloombergalthough he ruled out Use Dogecoin directly. That blockchain implementation never came to fruition.

Once the department was operational, the controversy did not stop. DOGE made a wrong cut estimated 2,000 health workers were forced to do so reduce foreign aid That Critics claimed this would harm global health, and people were caught blowing it up alleged savings.

Alex Hoffman, the head of the ecosystem at Dogecoin application layer DogeOS, told it Declutter that his family thought he was joining Musk’s agency when he said he was working on DOGE.

In reality, he helped build a product for Dogecoin. It’s just one example of how Dogecoin was politicized by Musk this year, to the extent that the general public connected the two.

“You know what the Dogecoin community says DOGE stands for? Do Only Good Every Day,” Hoffman explained. “As a community, we have a lot of power to be like DOGE: Do Only Good Every Day. Sure, Elon co-opted it. That’s fine, you know. But the community is very focused on doing positive things.”

The Department of Government Efficiency eventually faded into obscurity, with Musk being pushed away from the US government. That was before Musk ranted that his former best friend, President Trump, is in the Epstein files.

Dogecoin goes business

Digital asset treasuries dominated the narrative this year, with a handful of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for altcoins and meme coins also making headlines. Dogecoin was caught up in both trends.

In January, REX shares were filed with create an ETF for Dogecoin, with analysts estimate first it could be approved in April, which was not the case.

Two months later, the Dogecoin Foundation was founded House of Doge to drive Dogecoin adoption through business deals. It set aside 10 million DOGE, about $1.83 million at the time, for its initiatives.

In June, a publicly traded former cannabis company rebranded as Dogecoin Cash made a move into Dogecoin Treasury territory by creating a new subsidiary, Dogecoin Treasury Inc. The company declined to clarify its plans. when contacted Through Declutterbut the telemedicine platform took off Accept Dogecoin for payments months later.

Bitcoin treasury company Thumzup turned to Dogecoin to diversify its government bonds in early July and beyond bought a Dogecoin mining company. That same month, the Bitcoin mining company acquired Bit Origin $10 million in Dogecoin to create a meme coin treasure trove. The price of Dogecoin has only fallen since those acquisitions.

In September, a new treasury company stepped forward in CleanCore Solutions, which brought over Elon Musk’s personal attorneyAlex Spiro, as chairman of the board of directors.

CleanCore Solutions was touted as the first “official” DOGE treasury due to its connections to the Dogecoin Foundation and the House of Doge. As of December 15, CleanCore owned 733.1 million DOGE, or about $90 million worth.

That same month, the first Dogecoin ETF began trading in the United States, and it “destroyed“analyst expectations in early trading. In November, the Grayscale ETF debuted with a slow startfollowed shortly thereafter by The Bitwise fund.

“The way I see it is that all of these things are good for DOGE on a macro level,” Hoffman said. “What I’ve learned is that the DOGE community wants validation, and they want utility. Everything around that just reinforces the idea that [Dogecoin] deserves and receives validation.”

Likewise: House of Doge became public on the Nasdaq in October through a reverse takeover by Brag House Holdings, a college-focused online gaming company.

The Dogecoin Foundation industry subsequently acquired a majority interest in the share capital in the European football club US Triestina Calcio 1918 – after which the Dogecoin brand was added to his name jerseys and stadium.

Despite all this seemingly bullish news, Dogecoin failed to reach a new all-time high. In fact, it is the only top 10 crypto by market cap that did not reach a new peak during the most recent crypto bull run. Was this all in vain?

“Dogecoin remains firmly on a growth trajectory related to utility rather than speculation,” Timothy Stebbing, director of the Dogecoin Foundation, told me. Declutter. “In recent years, Dogecoin led the speculative asset pack, but has found its way as a utility currency, and as you might expect, that puts it on a different growth path than cryptocurrencies chasing the ‘always-up’ fairytale.”