Editor’s Note: The headline has been updated for accuracy.
TrumpCoin DJT/USD, the cryptocurrency believed to be directly linked to former President Donald Trump, was reportedly created by disgraced businessman Martin Shkreli.
What Happened: These revelations were made by prominent on-chain sleuth ZachXBT Tuesday night via an X post.
ZachXBT mentioned that Shkreli, a financial fraud convict who faced six years in prison, privately messaged him on X, saying "Between us please."
In a series of screenshots posted by ZachXBT, Martin Shkreli can be seen texting, "I have over 1000 pieces of evidence, I created it with Barron," in what looked like a clear reference to Trump's son Barron Trump, who was previously identified as the person spearheading the project.
Roughly half an hour after the private message, Shkreli, popularly known as "Pharma Bro," admitted on X spaces that he was the creator, ZachXBT said.
Shkreli’s private message to ZachXBT came after the latter publicly declared sending a submission to Arkham Intelligence’s $150,000 bounty for the person who can prove the identity of DJT’s developer.
To add more credence to his claims, ZachXBT established a link between a large DJT holder who dumped $832 worth of cryptocurrency and Shkreli's other project, Shoggoth.ai.
Why It Matters: The Solana SOL/USD-based coin has become the subject of intense speculation and media coverage in the last 24 hours.
It surged 187% on Monday following a disclosure by Pirate Wires about its links with Trump, However, the pump was short-lived as insiders started dumping the coin.
According to cryptocurrency trading data tool Birdeye, it recorded a 24-hour trading volume of $346 million, with a market cap of $131 million.
Trump's campaign didn't immediately respond to Benzinga's request for comment on the matter.
Photo by stockphoto-graf on Shutterstock
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