Last week’s public spat not only dragged down Tesla stock and Musk’s net worth, but memecoins tied to both of the billionaires, as well.
A policy disagreement between President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk erupted into a public feud on Thursday, June 5, that rattled both traditional and cryptocurrency markets.
The drama seemingly unfolded after Musk publicly denounced Trump’s proposed “Big Beautiful Bill” on Wednesday. The billionaire called it “a disgusting abomination,” in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on June 3. He added: “Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”
The Big Beautiful Bill is a large and controversial government spending proposal from President Trump’s administration. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the bill’s debt-service costs are estimated to reach $551 billion between 2025 and 2034, pushing the total deficit impact to $3 trillion over that period.
Trump appeared to retaliate by threatening to cut off billions in federal contracts to Musk’s companies, which include Tesla and SpaceX. “The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. ”I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!”
According to a February report by the Washington Post, Musk’s companies have received at least $38 billion in government contracts, loans, subsidies and tax credits over the years.
The feud escalated further when Musk claimed on X, without providing any evidence, that Trump’s name appears in sealed government documents related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — and that this was the reason the files have yet to be released.
Experts say the clash has only added uncertainty to an already shaky market, especially in the crypto space, where asset prices often react quickly to news.
“The public spat we’re seeing between Musk and Trump was nothing if not predictable,” said crypto analyst Nic Puckrin, “However, given their influence on the news cycle, the markets don’t like this at all, and it’s only likely to get worse as emotions escalate.”
Market Reactions
While major cryptocurrencies recorded some mild movement in response to the feud — with Bitcoin (BTC) briefly dipping 4.5% to $100,980 — it was the smaller memecoins linked to the two billionaires that experienced the most volatility.
On June 5, the Official Trump memecoin plunged 12% to $9.50 – though it has since recovered and is currently trading at $10.63.
The MELANIA token also dipped about 13% in the same timeframe. Notably, a new memecoin, dubbed KILL BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL (KBBB), launched on pumpfun on Thursday, in response to Musk’s comments. On Friday, the memcoin surged to $0.065, before plummeting over 98% to today’s price, near $0.001.
Meanwhile, the original memecoin, Dogecoin (DOGE), which is typically associated with Musk after he heavily endorsed it during the COVID-19 pandemic, has dropped around 10.5% on June 5. DOGE has experienced a broader drop since late May, coinciding with Musk’s official departure from the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The Department of Government Efficiency is not an official government department – instead, it was created as an advisory body by Trump and Musk to cut government spending. At the time of his departure, Musk thanked the president on X for “the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending.”
“The relationship evolution between Trump and Musk illustrates how crypto markets are increasingly integrated with broader economic and political developments,” said Jonathan Rose, CEO of BlockTrust IRA, in comments to The Defiant. Rose said the integration with broader markets is “a sign of the asset class’ growing importance in the global financial ecosystem.”
With regard to traditional stocks, Tesla also suffered on Thursday as a result of the Musk-Trump feud, dropping by as much as 14%, which led to a $152 billion market cap loss. Since then, the stock has rebounded by 8.5% and is currently trading at $301.
Musk’s personal net worth also took a hit amid the drama, dropping by $34 billion to $334.5 billion, Bloomberg reported.
Alliances ‘Shift Quickly’
Following their heated exchange, both Elon Musk and President Trump have been noticeably quieter on the subject over the weekend. While Musk has stayed silent on social media, Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, told NBC News that the President has no plans to speak with Musk anytime soon.
“While the back-and-forth can feel intense and real, history has shown that relationships like theirs can shift quickly,” Dr. Kirill Kretov from CoinPanel told The Defiant. “They might be rivals today, but a handshake and alliance tomorrow wouldn’t surprise anyone.”
He added that there’s been “considerable public pressure” on Musk to distance himself from Trump. “Some critics argued that Trump’s influence pulled the businessman into politics and exposed him to sensitive information, fueling accusations of potential conflicts of interest,” Dr. Kretov said.
As of Saturday, President Trump told NBC News that his relationship with Elon Musk is terminated. When asked if he would consider reconciling, he replied, “No.”
“I think it’s a very bad thing, because he’s very disrespectful,” Trump said. “You could not disrespect the office of the president.”
Vice President JD Vance also weighed in, saying Musk had “gone so nuclear” and called it a “big mistake” for the billionaire to attack the president.
