Donald Trump and son Barron in trouble?
Martin Shkreli, who is also known as “Pharma Bro,” claimed that he and Barron Trump are responsible for the introduction of the enigmatic DJT crypto token, a cryptocurrency named after Donald Trump.
The investor and convicted securities fraudster’s assertion comes after a spike in the price of the meme coin DJT due to rumors of its alleged connection to the former US President.
Barron, 18, developed the TrumpCoin (DJT) token with the agreement of his father, and is in possession of the private keys to its smart contract address, according to Shkreli.
Shkreli, who was sentenced to over six years in jail for securities fraud, alleges that Barron asked him to establish the Solana-based coin in April. Based on statistics from Birdseye, the token is currently valued at $146 million.
Regarding the subject, neither Donald Trump or Barron have made a public statement.
Shkreli asserted at a Mario Nawfal-hosted X Spaces that he did not actively participate in the launch of the token, and he only offered guidance to his “friend” Barron over the token’s debut.
He further claimed that Trump was the real DJT inventor and included influencer “Ansem” from the bitcoin space.
“I have over 1000 pieces of evidence I created it with Barron,” Shkreli said to online crypto investigator ZachXBT, who provided the data on X.
He sent the message to ZachXBT after blockchain startup Arkham Intelligence announced $150,000 reward for identifying the person or people behind the DJT coin.
Martin Shkreli says he didn’t act alone
In a post on X, Shkreli said ten persons were engaged in the token launch. “I taught someone how to make a contact, and they pushed the button, not me. Keys are with Trump, not me.” He added that ”I did not act alone.”
He additionally asserted that Trump had spoken with Kraken, a cryptocurrency exchange, about possibly listing DJT.
Calming that Donald Trump “approved it”, the 41-year-old Pharma Bro said: “I have receipts of Barron saying his dad approved it.”
“We did this on [Barron’s] computer. He ran the programs,” he said. “We spoke every day for 10 hours a day for the last week.”
In an attempt to support his claims, Shkreli brought the “Mongolian Prince”—a teenaged figure with fewer than 500 X followers who was purportedly involved with Shkreli—into the X Spaces.
When someone in the audience asked the somewhat shy Mongolian Prince if “Barron made the token” and “has the private keys,” he answered with a “mmhmm.”
Another audience member asked the Mongolian Prince “who deployed the contract”, he firmly said, “Barron,” adding that he “wanted to do something special, something significant, and we all wanted to help him with that.”
According to Mongolian Prince, he met with Trump in Florida. Before the DJT token debut, the Mongolian Prince said Trump laughed when Barron showed him Phantom wallet, which is based in Solana.
Blockchain expert ZachXBT received a $150,000 prize from blockchain analytics company Arkham Intelligence for purportedly identifying Shkreli as the developer of the DJT cryptocurrency.
Adam Cochran, a partner at Cinneamhain Ventures, charged that Shkreli was “trying to throw Barron under the bus” in an effort to clean his own name.
Many spectators in the X Spaces agreed with Shkreli’s account of events, while others disagreed, saying Trump wouldn’t be foolish enough to jeopardize his father’s reputation during an election year.
Donald Trump and Barron not involved in DJT Solana Meme Coin: Roger Stone
One of Trump’s close advisors, Roger Stone, refuted any involvement of the former president or Barron with the DJT memcoin as the conversation around his involvement grabbed center stage on social media.
In 2017, Shkreli was found guilty on two charges of securities fraud and one charge of conspiracy in a federal court. He was sentenced to almost seven years in prison and was fined almost $70 million as a result.
Many people have speculated that his current involvement may breach his parole restrictions, Shkreli has refuted this.
In response to the 1.6 million followers X account “BORED,” which threatened to send him back to prison, Shkreli responded, “Read the law, idiot.”
Also Read: Trump makes hurtful revelation on how son Barron feels about his hush money conviction
How DJT affected other meme coins
The influence on the prices of cryptocurrencies with Trump themes has been significant, regardless of the general skepticism over the purported links between the DJT token and the Trump family.
The MAGA-inspired TRUMP cryptocurrency fell 31% in the four hours following the reports, according to data from CoinGecko, from its prior level to $7.46. The token’s market valuation has dropped by almost $150 million as a result of this sudden dip, dealing a serious blow to the cryptocurrency with the Make America Great Again theme.
It’s interesting to see that other Trump-related meme currencies were also affected by the backlash. In a comparable amount of time, the Solana-based Donald Tremp (TREMP) token plummeted dramatically falling 36.8% from $0.95 to $0.60. Following the first sell-off, TREMP was able to partially recover to $0.76.
