A Dogecoin co-founder has jokingly flipped the traditional stimulus idea on its head, suggesting the U.S. government could buy a staggering $1.2 trillion worth of the DOGE meme coin and distr
A Dogecoin co-founder has jokingly flipped the traditional stimulus idea on its head, suggesting the U.S. government could buy a staggering $1.2 trillion worth of the DOGE meme coin and distribute it to Americans instead of simply issuing more dollars.
Dogecoin co-founder Billy Markus, who posts on the X social media site as Shibetoshi Nakamoto, has floated a rather interesting alternative: spending $1.2 trillion to buy Dogecoin instead of sending Americans $5,000 stimulus checks.
instead the government should buy 1.2 trillion dollars of dogecoin and give some to every american
— Shibetoshi Nakamoto (@BillyM2k) September 12, 2026https://t.co/JkcrCMsQbI
The timing added another layer to the remark, as it came the same week President Donald Trump pledged to give every adult a $5,000 “dividend” if Republicans win the November midterm elections.
Notably, economists have cautioned that a one-off $5,000 payment may not meaningfully improve household purchasing power. Instead, the sudden cash injection could fuel stronger demand and push prices higher in the following months. Broad consumer payments can be inflationary when spending grows faster than the economy’s ability to supply goods and services.
Markus is known for his trademark humor, so his suggestion of a $1.2 trillion Dogecoin giveaway appears to be more of a tongue-in-cheek idea than a serious policy recommendation. Still, the sheer size of the proposal raises an obvious question: could the U.S. government realistically buy that much DOGE?
Dogecoin currently ranks as the 12th-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, with a market value of roughly $13.2 billion. The leading meme coin’s circulating supply stands at about 155.88 billion DOGE, currently worth around $13.08 billion. That makes a $1.2 trillion government purchase more than 90 times the token’s current market value.
While Dogecoin has no fixed supply ceiling that would technically prevent such a purchase, acquiring DOGE on that scale would likely send its price soaring and make the proposal extremely difficult and costly to execute.
A $1.2 trillion government DOGE buy may sound far-fetched, but the U.S. government has already taken steps to hold cryptocurrency as a strategic asset. In March 2025, President Trump signed an executive order creating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a separate Digital Asset Stockpile. The reserve was funded with Bitcoin the government already held, including assets acquired through seizures and forfeiture proceedings, rather than through massive market purchases.
However, the policy does not extend to Dogecoin. No official U.S. DOGE reserve exists, and no government mandate requires accumulating the canine-themed meme crypto.
Meanwhile, Dogecoin was changing hands at $0.08467 at press time, according to CoinGecko, up a paltry 0.5% in the last 24 hours.
