Musk isn’t introducing a novel idea. For years, people have advocated eliminating the penny, as pennies are rarely spent as change. And since the Covid-19 pandemic, more consumers are shopping online or avoiding physical currency altogether .

A former USDS employee called the repurposing of the Digital Service into DOGE an “A+ bureaucratic jiujitsu move.” It will give Musk and his associates access to unclassified data in every government agency.

President Donald Trump’s executive order creating the Department of Government Efficiency makes billionaire Elon Musk subject to conflict-of-interest laws, while also granting him access to a vast trove of federal data with immeasurable value.

Trump has granted Musk and his DOGE colleagues access to a trove of federal data with little transparency requirements.