Donald Trump, the former US president who is on track for a White House rematch with President Joe Biden this year, has embraced bitcoin in recent months – forcing the Biden administration into a pivot potential of cryptos.
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The price of bitcoin has risen since the devastating collapse of the major bitcoin and crypto exchange FTX in late 2022, with Trump and Biden warning that it could be another only way to save the US dollar.
Now, after wild speculation this week that the Trump campaign could be behind a new, viral cryptocurrency, a series of leaks have debunked the claims — sending the price of bitcoin’s rival crashing.
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Former US President Donald Trump has surprised many with his embrace of bitcoin and crypto … [+]
On Monday, a cryptocurrency called trumpcoin and using the token DJT was linked to Trump by the media company Pirate Wirecreated and led by Mike Solana, who is also a vice president at Peter Thiel’s venture capital firm Founders Fund.
“For talks, Trump is issuing an official sign – DJT,” he said Pirate Wire The X account posted, adding that Trump’s 18-year-old son Barron is “leading the charge.” Solana retweeted the claim, calling it a “spoon” and adding that he “didn’t speak to Trump directly, assumed it was obvious. Just reported what he knows via sources.”
The price of DJT, which launched just two months ago, surged nearly 300% following the claim, with traders betting that the price could rise much higher if it is confirmed that the Trump campaign was indeed behind it.
However, after denying he was involved, outraged entrepreneur Martin Shkreli has admitted in leaked messages sent to blockchain sleuth ZachXBT and then in an Xspace broadcast that he is behind memecoin DJT—crashing its price.
Shkreli, a convicted pharmaceutical executive who made headlines for drug price gouging almost 10 years ago and earned the moniker “pharma bro,” has become a crypto influencer since his release in 2022.
“I have 1,000 proofs that I created them with [Trump’s son] Barron,” Shkreli, who had directly denied being involved with memecoin, wrote to ZachXBT in a leaked message. ZachXBT has accepted a $150,000 reward for the identity of DJT’s creator offered by crypto-analytics company Arkham Intelligence .
Meanwhile, DL news reported a Trump campaign “insider” who denied any involvement.
Shkreli, however, has continued to claim that he created the bitcoin rival in collaboration with Trump’s youngest son Barron, adding during an X-Space broadcast that Barron holds the majority of the cryptocurrency and is the sole beneficiary of the project.
Trump has been bullish on bitcoin and crypto in recent weeks after making millions from a series of crypto-based digital trading cards (NFTs) and putting him in stark contrast to the anti-crypto stance of the Biden administration. Trump declared support for crypto in late May and began accepting campaign donations in bitcoin, ethereum, solana, dogecoin and shiba inu.
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The price of bitcoin has rebounded to an all-time high of around $70,000 per bitcoin this year … [+]
Earlier this month, Trump reportedly went on a cryptocharm offensive during a fundraiser in Silicon Valley hosted by investors David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya, it was reported by Reuters. “He said he was going to be the crypto president,” Trevor Traina, a San Francisco-based tech executive and former Trump ambassador to Austria, was quoted as saying by Newswire.
Ryan Selkis, the founder of data provider Messari and a vocal Trump supporter, put the odds of DJT being legitimately connected to Trump at “50-50” before Shkreli’s messages were revealed.
David Bailey, chief executive of Bitcoin Magazine who has claimed to be advising Trump’s 2024 election campaign on bitcoin and crypto, warned that if Pirate Wire the claim is wrong, it could scare Trump and make him back away from cryptos.
“If the DJT Solana meme coin is fake, whoever spread it should be tarred and repented and kicked out of our industry forever,” Bailey posted to X. “This is how you make the entire industry SEEMS [bad] and to signal to the president and his team that we are a liability and not an asset.”