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.

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 .

Pennies cost more than 3 cents each to make, which has the little round Lincoln heads in the crosshairs of Elon Musk’s new Department of

I think if we try for $2 trillion, we’ve got a good shot at getting 1 [trillion],” Musk said in a January interview.