‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli claims he co-created the DJT token: ZachXBT

Quick Take

  • Blockchain sleuth ZachXBT said on X that Martin Shkreli claimed to be behind the DJT meme token.
  • Donald Trump’s campaign has yet to comment on the token that triggered speculations on social media.

Controversial entrepreneur Martin Shkreli claimed to have co-created DJT, the Solana token themed after Donald Trump, blockchain sleuth ZachXBT said.

In the X post, ZachXBT explained that Shkreli, a securities fraud convict, messaged him privately on X, stating that he had “over 1,000 pieces of evidence” that he created the DJT token with Barron, which appears to point to Barron Trump. Shkreli then announced that he created DJT on an X Spaces he hosted shortly after, according to ZachXBT.

Shkreli’s direct message and subsequent announcement followed ZachXBT’s public acceptance of blockchain data platform Arkham’s $150,000 bounty to whomever identifies the true creator of the viral token.

ZachXBT further bolstered an alleged link between DJT and Shkreli with blockchain transaction data that indicated one large DJT holder selling off $832,000 worth of the tokens for USDC stablecoin. Notably, this same wallet also held a substantial amount of tokens from Shkreli’s project, Shoggoth.ai.

RELATED INDICES

Prior to his latest announcement on X Spaces, Shkreli had been claiming that DJT is the token officially associated with the Trump campaign, also setting up a bet with pseudonymous crypto trader GCR worth $100 million that the token was authentic.

Earlier Tuesday, the DJT token surged over 300% and saw trading volume of more than $472 million amid an unconfirmed report from PirateWire that claimed the former U.S. president had launched the token. DJT fell back 33% in the past 24 hours to $0.01306, according to data from GeckoTerminal.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to The Block’s request for comments.


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About Author

Danny Park is an East Asia reporter at The Block writing on topics including Web3 developments and crypto regulations in the region. He was formerly a reporter at Forkast.News, where he actively covered the downfall of Terra-Luna and FTX. Based in Seoul, Danny has previously produced written and video content for media companies in Korea, Hong Kong and China. He holds a Bachelor of Journalism and Business Marketing from the University of Hong Kong.

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