Martin Shkreli, the 41-year-old former pharmaceutical tycoon convicted of securities fraud, says he has began a new endeavor: teaming up with 18-year-old Barron Trump to launch a $DJT crypto token.
Neither Trump nor the presidential campaign of his father, Donald Trump, have commented on Shkreli's claim—nor have either confirmed his involvement.
Shkreli, infamous for gouging the price of an AIDS medication in 2015, on Wednesday claimed credit after a $150,000 reward was touted by Arkham Intelligence, a blockchain company, which sought to find out who was behind the mysterious crypto token, which launched in April.
The reward offer followed a surge in value in $DJT amid rumors the coin was tied to the former president. According to The Block, the memecoin generated more than $363 million in trading volume in a 24-hour period after the rumors first began swirling on social media.
Martin Shkreli Barron Trump memecoin
Amid the furor, crypto investigator ZachXBT shared on X that Shkreli told him that he has "over 1000 pieces of evidence I created it with Barron."
Arkham accepted Shkreli's claims, writing on X that ZachXBT "submitted definitive evidence" late Wednesday night that the convicted fraudster was behind the token.
During a livestream on X, Shkreli repeated his claim and explained why Barron Trump reportedly got involved.
"We're friends, he wants to make money," he said.
Shkreli's alleged involvement sparked a number of jokes on social media, with some users dubbing the move a "grift."
"Shkreli becoming a crypto grifter is the least surprising development in the history of time," remarked one person.
"if Satoshi knew that we would eventually be listening to these Martin Shkreli spaces before he invented Bitcoin, he would have decided not to invent Bitcoin," joked someone else of the presumed pseudonym of the creator(s) behind Bitcoin.
"If I were Melania I would ground Barron for 2 weeks just for talking to Shkreli," joked another person.
While the Trumps have avoided addressing Shkreli's claims, Roger Stone, a longtime GOP operative, denied either Trump being behind the mysterious token.
"[Donald Trump] and son Barron NOT involved in any way with $DJT," Stone wrote on Wednesday.
In response, Shkreli criticized Stone and argued Stone's comments were motivated by his involvement in a separate $TRUMP memecoin.
"Roger Stone doesn’t know Barron and is paid by another (fake and gay) Trump memecoin," Shkreli wrote, adding in a separate post, "Roger stone was barely sentient last I saw him."
But if Shkreli is to be believed, the idea he'd befriend someone so young was considered dubious.
"Um, what? Martin Shkreli claims to be longtime friends with 18-year-old Barron Trump, despite their 23-year age gap? That's a pretty questionable 'friendship'" wrote one poster.
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