Elon Musk Defends DOGE: Legal Action Looms as Reddit Users Target Employees

Elon Musk, the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has sparked a 5% rise in Dogecoin (DOGE) after threatening legal action against Reddit users targeting DOGE employees. Musk shared a post from a popular Reddit account, Reddit Lies, exposing multiple anonymous users for threatening violence against DOGE employees. He captioned the post, "They have broken the law."

In response, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Edward R. Martin Jr., stated that his team has reviewed the evidence and is in contact with the FBI and other law enforcement partners to proceed rapidly. Martin Jr. also confirmed that prosecutors are preparing for potential legal action. Musk followed up with a post saying, "Don’t mess with DOGE."

The buzz surrounding DOGE online has boosted its token-namesake, Dogecoin (DOGE), which has gone up more than 5% in the past 24 hours. According to data from crypto.news, DOGE is currently trading hands at $0.27. However, trading activity for DOGE has gone down, with a 43% decrease in trading volume to $6 billion. Dogecoin's market cap stands at $40 billion, and its circulating supply is at 147 billion tokens.

The Department of Government Efficiency was announced in November 2024 by Donald Trump as an initiative to streamline federal operations. The acronym "DOGE" is a nod to Dogecoin's ticker, which is also Elon Musk's favorite cryptocurrency. Musk was chosen to lead DOGE alongside politician Vivek Ramaswamy, who stepped down from the role on Jan. 21.