“It’s hard to go higher than being this kind of a second-in-charge or second-in-popularity to Trump,” Zelinsky said.
On Reddit and X, Zelinsky analyzed messages from Musk followers who truly believed that Dogecoin price hikes are Musk’s “gift” propelling Dogecoin to become not just the “currency of Earth” but the currency of Mars. That’s the real fantasy that makes Musk such a charismatic figure, Zelinsky suggested.
“If we keep believing in the coin and everything we should make it stand for, we will be chilling on Mars,” one Musk follower said.
“Forget about the effing moon, Elon Musk is taking Doge to Mars!!!” another posted.
Others, whom Zelinsky satirically refers to as pirates, are more pragmatic. In a “non-devotional way,” Zelinsky told Ars, they trust that Musk “could create a momentous demand that would drive the price of Dogecoin upward and let them profit from credulous investors who are late to the party.”
“I used Doge the right way,” one Musk follower said. “I’m not gonna hold that shit,” it “has no utility. Just have notifications turned on for [Elon’s] twits and [make] some easy money.”
Zelinsky told Ars that historically, followers of charismatic leaders generally hold onto their beliefs until the charisma wanes and figures become viewed as mundane. Since Musk’s political influence is arguably greater than ever, it’s likely that his followers have only strengthened their belief in his power to fulfill his promises to popularize Dogecoin and take them to Mars.
But charismatic authority is “a very volatile kind of phenomenon,” Zelinsky said, forecasting that even Musk “cannot stay charismatic forever.” He pointed to a field of study into technofeudalism, which theorizes that tech leaders in particular are becoming more traditional and less disruptive over time.
One could argue that Dogecoin, too, has charismatic authority over traders, many of whom love that Doge is disruptive and buy Doge just for a laugh. But if Dogecoin becomes more stable, as Stebbing wants, Dogecoin risks becoming “less interesting as an object of belief,” Zelinsky suggested.
And although there are plenty of believers in Dogecoin today, there also persists a stubborn segment of Dogecoin fans who don’t want the joke to end or see the memecoin become as normal as a crumpled-up dollar. Dogecoin could risk losing this joker segment if it becomes too stable and serious.
Schurck told Ars that while he could easily see more people using Dogecoin if companies started adopting it as a payment method, for him, “Dogecoin remains a joke first. A funny, expensive joke and a cool meme, sure! But still a joke.”
