The Daily: Trump says 'DOGE' to be led by Musk and Ramaswamy as Dogecoin soars, Bitwise CIO makes the case for $500K bitcoin and more

Happy Wednesday! In today's Daily, President-elect Donald Trump confirms his "DOGE" efficiency department will be led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy as Dogecoin surges, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan makes the case for $500,000 bitcoin, crypto-AI startup 0G Labs raises $290 million in fresh funding and more.

Meanwhile, the Consensys-incubated Layer 2 Linea plans a token launch in Q1 2025 and U.S. prosecutors seek to recoup over $17.9 million worth of crypto tied to alleged bribes paid to Chinese officials prior to the collapse of FTX.

Plus, when will bitcoin's price hit $100,000? Here's what crypto experts have to say.

Let's get started.

Trump confirms 'DOGE' efficiency dept. will be led by Musk and Ramaswamy as Dogecoin soars

President-elect Donald Trump appointed Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Strive Enterprises co-founder Vivek Ramaswamy to lead his new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

• "Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure Federal Agencies," Trump wrote in a transition statement.
• Previously, Musk discussed creating the government body titled "DOGE," as he spent millions of dollars to help Trump's re-election and appeared at campaign rallies.
• Musk is also a long-time supporter of the meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin, which shares a namesake ticker with the acronym of the new department.
• Dogecoin is up around 14% in the last 24 hours and more than 120% over the past week amid a broader post-U.S. election surge for the crypto market.
• Ramaswamy, a former presidential candidate, endorsed Trump and expressed enthusiasm for challenging government inefficiencies during the election campaign.
• The famously anti-crypto Senator Elizabeth Warren criticized the joint leadership of DOGE. "The Office of Government Efficiency is off to a great start with split leadership: two people to do the work of one person," Warren wrote. "Yeah, this seems really efficient."
• Meanwhile, crypto industry advocate, army veteran and Fox Friends Weekend co-host Pete Hegseth, who recently said Trump is "making bitcoin great again," was also nominated for Secretary of Defense on Tuesday.

Bitwise CIO makes the case for a $500,000 bitcoin price

In a note to clients late Tuesday, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan made the case for a $500,000 bitcoin price before the cryptocurrency's early stage comes to an end and the asset "matures."

• Amid a series of new all-time highs following pro-crypto Donald Trump's election victory, with bitcoin already trading above $90,000, "$100,000 feels like it could be right around the corner," he said.
• To hit the half-a-million-dollar milestone, Hougan argues that bitcoin must gain broader institutional adoption, similar to gold, with central banks currently the biggest missing piece in that equation.
• The $500,000 target would require bitcoin to capture a 50% share of the current $20 trillion store-of-value market, equaling that of gold, according to Hougan.
• "Until then, it’s still early," he said. "Could we see $1 million bitcoin? Higher? Absolutely. But $500K feels like a good start."
  Meanwhile, Bitwise announced on Wednesday that it acquired Attestant, an Ethereum staking provider with $4 billion in staked assets.

Crypto-AI startup 0G Labs raises $290 million in fresh funding

Zero Gravity Labs (0G Labs or 0GL), a crypto-AI startup developing infrastructure for a decentralized AI operating system, has secured $290 million in funding , including a $40 million seed round and a $250 million token purchase commitment.

• Investors include Hack VC, Delphi Digital, OKX Ventures, Samsung Next, Animoca Brands and Polygon, among many others, 0G Labs said Wednesday, declining to comment on the 0G token's fully diluted valuation.
• 0G Labs plans to launch its mainnet and the 0G token by mid-2025, having delayed the release to synchronize both events.
• With the new funding in place, 0G Labs aims to expand its team from 40 to 80 employees and drive growth through developer incentives, hackathons and community initiatives.

BlackRock's tokenized fund BUIDL expanding to Aptos, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Optimism and Polygon

BlackRock's BUIDL fund, tokenized in collaboration with Securitize, is expanding from Ethereum to the Aptos, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Optimism and Polygon blockchains.

• The expansion will allow applications on these networks to natively interact with BUIDL, increasing access for investors, DAOs and other digital asset firms by allowing developers to build on the fund in their preferred ecosystem, Securitize said on Wednesday.
• The fund offers an onchain yield, dividend accrual and near real-time peer-to-peer transfers.
• BUIDL leads the tokenized government securities niche with $517 million in assets under management, representing a 22% share of the $2.3 billion market, according to 21.co data.
• BNY remains the fund administrator and custodian as BUIDL scales to new networks.

Pepe price surges amid Robinhood listing and Coinbase’s plan to add the memecoin

Pepe's price surged over 30% on Wednesday after Robinhood announced its listing of the frog-faced memecoin for spot trading and Coinbase also revealed plans to list the token.

• Additionally, Robinhood reinstated Solana, Cardano and XRP for trading, having previously delisted them in response to SEC-related regulatory concerns.
• "You've long wanted the frog. Well, soon you'll get the frog. Coinbase is adding Pepe to our listing roadmap with the goal of listing later today. Thanks for your patience," Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal posted on X.

In the next 24 hours

• Eurozone GDP data are out at 5 a.m. ET on Thursday. U.S. jobless claims and PPI numbers follow at 8:30 a.m.
• Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey will speak at 1 p.m. ECB President Christine Lagarde follows at 2 p.m. and U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at 3 p.m.
• Devcon continues in Bangkok and MoneroTopia gets underway in Mexico City.

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