Brian Armstrong, Coinbase CEO, says President Donald Trump’s newly announced Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E) could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to overhaul America’s bloated government.
“D.O.G.E is a chance to increase economic freedom in the U.S. and cut the size of government back to health,” he declared.
Brian also floated some ideas. One involves capping government spending at 10% of GDP through a constitutional amendment. “The Founding Fathers were geniuses,” he said, “but they might have underestimated how democratic governments naturally grow over time by promising free stuff to win elections.”
To prevent that, he suggests aligning incentives—maybe even punishing members of Congress who approve unbalanced budgets by barring them from re-election. Another idea? A U.S. sovereign wealth fund where every citizen gets a share, and any budget surplus pays out dividends.
“Everyone would have skin in the game,” Brian explained, adding that Congress could hold a bigger stake to ensure fiscal discipline.
A user replied with a suggestion that, “Or just a flat tax. It’s easy to convince people to spend other people’s money frivolously instead of their own.”
To that, Brian said:
“This would help. Honestly, getting rid of individual income tax entirely would be ideal, shifting tax reporting burden to businesses instead. Try to generate equivalent revenue via a sales tax, or on business income, etc.”
He added that it’s wild that every adult in the U.S. is expected to figure out how to pay their taxes when the tax code is around 150,000 pages long, and not a single person completely understands it.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to put this responsibility on the 10,000 biggest companies instead of making 200 million people deal with a complicated accounting headache every year? Brian asks.
Trump taps Elon and Ramaswamy for D.O.G.E
Just a week after his second-term win, Trump announced DOGE as part of his plan to slash federal waste. To lead the charge, he tapped two billionaire disruptors: Tesla CEO Elon Musk and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
Trump made it clear he expects results, describing DOGE as a tool to “cut excess regulations, wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies.”
DOGE isn’t an official government department, which raises eyebrows about how much authority Elon and Ramaswamy will actually have. Congress controls federal spending, after all. Still, Trump’s choices are anything but subtle.
Elon’s X bio now reads, “The people voted for major government reform.” Ramaswamy isn’t holding back either. At a Mar-a-Lago event hosted by the America First Policy Institute, he fired up the crowd with his no-holds-barred plans: “We’ll be deporting millions of unelected bureaucrats out of D.C. Elon doesn’t bring a chisel; he brings a chainsaw. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
The initiative, according to Trump, must be wrapped up by July 4, 2026—America’s 250th birthday. That tight timeline leaves many unanswered questions. Who’s funding D.O.G.E? Will Elon or Ramaswamy really not be compensated for their services in any way?
So far, Trump’s campaign has stayed mostly quiet. An official D.O.G.E account on X recently announced they’re hiring “super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries” willing to work unpaid for over 80 hours a week. Elon chimed in with his usual flair: “Compensation is zero.”
DOGE rides the D.O.G.E wave
While D.O.G.E might focus on slashing government waste, the meme crypto it cheekily references is having its own moment.
Dogecoin has surged in value since Trump announced the initiative, trading at $0.38—a threefold increase over the past month. Daily trading volume hit $21.7 billion.
Trump’s playful nod to Dogecoin in the D.O.G.E initiative has undoubtedly fueled its rise. Elon, of course, remains a central figure in Dogecoin’s resurgence.
His support, amplified by his role in DOGE, has reignited interest from both retail and institutional investors. Analysts predict Dogecoin could experience continued volatility, with potential prices hitting $0.50 by Inauguration.
Dogecoin’s market cap now sits at $52.38 billion, making it one of the most valuable cryptocurrencies. Its daily price movements have ranged between $0.34 and $0.38.
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