SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy will co-lead a new U.S. government initiative aimed at bringing down the federal budget deficit.

The initiative, called the Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E), has the same acronym as the code for Musk's favorite cryptocurrency, Dogecoin. According to President-elect Donald Trump, the plan will "cut redundant regulations, reduce wasteful spending, and restructure federal agencies."

However, some details of the project remain unclear. Here's everything we know about DOGE so far.

What is DOGE?

DOGE is an upcoming U.S. government initiative first mentioned by Elon Musk in a tweet last August.

While the project initially seemed like a joke (it was created to be a joke, and it's no surprise that the price of Dogecoin goes up whenever Musk mentions it), Trump has thrown his support behind DOGE's initiative to cut government spending, suggesting that the once-fictional department will actually become a real-life U.S. government annex.

"Together, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, cut redundant regulations, reduce wasteful spending, and restructure federal agencies - critical to the 'Save America' campaign," Trump said in a statement on Tuesday.

Trump also noted that the program will continue "no later than July 4, 2026," the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

According to the U.S. Congress website, DOGE is not an official department of the U.S. government in the traditional sense, as only Congress (not the president) can approve the creation of new federal government departments.

Trump said Musk's ideas related to the Meme would exist "outside" the government system. That means DOGE may not receive government funding. It also means that the program's ability to directly control the budgets of U.S. government agencies will be very limited, although DOGE's directives may be implemented through Trump's supporters in Congress.

Who will manage DOGE?

Billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will head the government Efficiency Department. According to Musk's Twitter post on Thursday, neither will be paid for the work.

Musk, of course, is the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and the owner of Twitter (now known as X). Ramaswamy is an entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate who dropped out of the race during the primary season and endorsed Trump.

According to the department's official post on Thursday, the program will tentatively be made up of a group of "ultra-intelligent people who support the small-government revolution" and are willing to work 80-plus hours a week to cut inglorious costs. Elon Musk tweeted this week that it's unclear how many employees will be hired to work on the project, but the jobs will be unpaid.

As of now, neither Ramaswamy nor Musk immediately returned Decrypt's request for comment.

What would DOGE actually do?

Trump said DOGE's job is to streamline the U.S. government by issuing reports that provide recommendations and guidance for cutting government regulation and spending.

"Your money is being wasted and the Ministry of Government Efficiency is going to fix that. We are going to stop the government pestering you and taking money out of your wallets." Musk said at a Trump rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City in October.

The billionaire leaders of the quasi-sector, however, offer differing views on how far federal spending should be cut.

Musk proposed cutting federal spending by $2 million, a third of the total federal government budget. At the same time, Ramaswamy said he wants to cut the U.S. federal workforce by 75 percent, though the budget impact of such cuts is unclear.

Despite these differences, based on recent public comments by Ramaswamy and Musk, DOGE leaders appear to be in agreement to lay off a large number of federal government employees and several U.S. agencies, such as the Department of Education and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), to cut costs.

"The extent to which government money is wasted is beyond the public's imagination," Musk said on Twitter on Thursday. He was referring to more than $6 trillion in U.S. federal government spending in 2023.

Musk also said DOGE will hold weekly live streams to share its progress.

Why is it called DOGE?

The virtual unit's acronym, DOGE, appears to be a playful reference to DOGE, the high-cap meme coin beloved of Elon Musk. That connection was reinforced by an official Trump T-shirt featuring the president-elect, Musk and a Shiba inu.

The meme, known for its Shiba Inu mascot, was created by a pair of software engineers in 2013. Musk has said he owns "a bunch" of Dogecoin, and he has frequently tweeted about the token over the past few years. In 2021, he even referred to himself as the "father of dogs" and mentioned the token while hosting Saturday Night Live.

The value of Dogecoin climbed during the period when Musk supported Trump's campaign, and then skyrocketed after Trump won and officially declared DOGE leadership. Dogecoin hit its highest price in three years last week and sent the value of other well-known Meme coins soaring.