PoliticalFi is the focus of this bull market. Recently, the MEME coin DJT became popular due to rumors of being the "purest Trump concept coin", but then it went through twists and turns, and in the end, the mysterious trader Martin Shkreli was forced to reveal his identity in the bounty event.
It is difficult to distinguish true from false, and use information asymmetry and public opinion to create influence
As a strong candidate in the US presidential election, Trump-related MEME tokens have become a hot topic in the market, especially after he used cryptocurrency as a campaign strategy, which has boosted the emotional value of investors.
On June 18, foreign media Pirate Wires tweeted that "there are rumors that Trump is launching the official token $DJT on Solana", but the media did not give the source. Many media have also participated in the DJT-related reports. For example, Fox Business reported that "while it is impossible to confirm the direct or indirect relationship between the DJT token and Trump, people associated with the former president plan to launch digital currency in at least two months." Pirate Wires cited unnamed sources as saying that Trump's son Barron is leading the project, but its editor-in-chief later clarified that he "did not talk directly to Trump, and Trump may say that this is not true in a roundabout way", and said that he would no longer report related crypto news in the community controversy.
However, Bo Loudon, a well-known Trump supporter, published a post claiming that "DJT is the only real Trump token" (now deleted), which added more credibility to DJT. As a result, many Trump series tokens fell collectively, and some investors even sold the leading token TRUMP worth millions. On the other hand, the market value of DJT once exceeded the $400 million mark.
In addition, the huge bets also add more highlights to DJT. Martin Shkreli, the former president of Turing Pharmaceuticals, not only hinted that DJT was Trump's official token and "called for" the token, but also made bets of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars with many crypto KOLs, such as GCR and Martin Shkreli made a $100 million bet on "whether DJT was launched for Trump." Who could have expected that the executive of the pharmaceutical giant was the real manipulator.
While the community was in doubt, blockchain data company Bubblemaps published an analysis saying that DJT actually had no connection with Trump, and about 67% of DJT supply was concentrated in one cluster, and 43% of the total supply was on Solana ecosystem automated market maker Raydium.
The on-chain detective went to solve the case, and the issuer immediately exposed himself
In order to find the real behind-the-scenes leader of DJT, the on-chain data analysis platform Arkham also stated that Arkham Intelligence will offer a $150,000 bounty to any user who can clearly prove the identity of the issuer of Trump-themed Solana on-chain token DJT. Subsequently, the on-chain detective ZachXBT stated on the platform that he had submitted a bounty application for the identity of the DJT token issuer to Arkham.
ZachXBT tweeted, "Martin Shkreli sent me an urgent private message after I announced the DJT token issuer information bounty application to Arkham, and then issued a temporary statement announcing that he issued the token. It's really funny." He also said, "Should we reveal Martin's insider friend who recommended buying before Mike Solana/Pirate Wires posted?" In addition, some community members also found out that Martin Shkreli was one of the first members of DJT's TG community, and the administrator came from Martin's previous project. Perhaps in order to reverse the passive situation, Martin Shkreli took the lead in revealing his identity at the Space event on X.
Martin Shkreli is the co-founder of hedge fund MSMB Capital Management and the former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals. He became famous in his teens after making huge profits by shorting several pharmaceutical companies. In 2018, Martin Shkreli was arrested by the FBI on charges of securities fraud and wire fraud and sentenced to seven years in prison. Because Martin Shkreli once raised the price of a certain life-saving drug by more than 55 times, he was called "the most hated person in America" by the BBC and was banned from entering the pharmaceutical industry for life. Trump also commented that Martin Shkreli was "a spoiled brat, which is a shame."
Shortly after Martin Shkreli was released early in May 2022, the "pharmaceutical guy" immediately switched to Web3. Martin Shkreli founded the Web3 drug discovery startup Druglike and completed $3 million in financing. For this reason, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also took Martin Shkreli to court, but the latter stated that the company was not a pharmaceutical company. Martin Shkreli also operated in the crypto market. The token Martin Shkreli Inu (MSI) he launched plummeted after a large number of tokens were sold, and now it has fallen by more than 96% from its high point.
Martin Shkreli is also very active in the crypto field. In addition to sharing prison survival advice with SBF, he also revealed that he holds some cryptocurrencies and NFTs such as Milady. Recently, he was sued by the crypto art collection platform PleasrDAO for copying a previously confiscated rare album by the American hip-hop music group Wu-tang Clan. The album has now been sold in the form of a $1 NFT.
DJT token plunges as insiders take profits
As the operator behind DJT was revealed, the DJT token began to plunge sharply. Dex Screener data showed that DJT's highest intraday drop was nearly 66.7%, and its market value was only about one-third of its peak.
At the same time, many insiders took profits and exited the market. According to Lookonchain monitoring, the third largest DJT holder (probably an insider) had spent 1,363 SOL (about 188,000 US dollars) to purchase 52.09 million DJTs before the DJT rumor came out. In just two days, the wallet earned about 1.04 million US dollars in SOL; another insider (insider trader) also spent only 9,400 US dollars to earn more than 1 million US dollars, and his income increased by 110 times; a DJT big holder verso.sol sold DJT tokens worth 832,000 US dollars. The address is also a big holder of Martin's other project Shoggoth.
In contrast, many investors suffered heavy losses. Lookonchain monitored that a trader spent 2,500 SOL (about $342,100) on June 18 to buy 91,705.6 DJTs, but only received 4.91 SOL (673 USD) when he sold them, losing $341,400 in less than a minute. This user may have suffered a sandwich attack.
"I will be richer when I get out of prison than before." Martin Shkreli once said in prison. Wherever the money is, Martin Shkreli is there, and now it seems that the encryption field is becoming a profitable "new business opportunity" for Martin Shkreli after he is released from prison.
