Amid the ongoing frenzy surrounding the meme token TrumpCoin (DJT), debates about its developer continue to swirl. On-chain investigator ZachXBT appears to have identified the individual responsible.
Initial suspicions fell on investor Martin Shkreli, who had been imprisoned for securities fraud. On June 18, he invited whales to join the project.
any other whales wanna join lmk https://t.co/00BcO64t81
— Martin Shkreli (e/acc) (@MartinShkreli) June 18, 2024
Trader Alex Wice wagered $1 million that the token is a fake if Shkreli is indeed its creator.
Subsequently, a user known as GCR joined the discussion, betting $100 million that Donald Trump was not involved in creating DJT. The former US president would need to prove otherwise.
Meanwhile, analysts at Arkham Intelligence announced a $150,000 reward for identifying the developer of the controversial meme token.
Fuck it, we ball.
$150,000 to the first person to definitively prove the identity of the creator of $DJT.
Only on Arkham Intel. https://t.co/cngi98z9Wr https://t.co/5snKhSyfuh pic.twitter.com/lEA6rm3BCe
— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) June 18, 2024
At the same time, the betting platform Polymarket added a pool on the outcome of the event.
interesting pic.twitter.com/5gewRNmEM9
— Polymarket (@Polymarket) June 19, 2024
Ultimately, analyst ZachXBT published a conversation with Shkreli. The investor admitted to creating the token with Trump’s son, Barron.
For those who are confused and need additional context.
Earlier today Arkham announced a $150K bounty for the identity of the DJT creator
11:49 pm UTC I reply to Arkham saying I submitted for the bounty
11:57 pm UTC Martin Shkreli panic DM’s me
12:27 am UTC Martin Shkreli… pic.twitter.com/pKCQDOo7AZ— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) June 19, 2024
Following the announcement of Arkham’s reward offer, the researcher expressed readiness to provide evidence. Minutes later, Shkreli messaged him privately.
He asked not to disclose details about DJT and revealed that former kickboxer Andrew Tate was also involved in promoting the coin.
After the exchange with the on-chain sleuth, Shkreli created a “space” on X, where he disclosed his involvement with the meme coin.
Additionally, ZachXBT discovered that a major DJT insider with the address verso.sol dumped coins worth $832,000 and transferred these funds to an address linked to an unnamed CEX.
One of the large DJT insiders verso.sol dumping $832K worth of DJT and then depositing USDC to CEX ~1 hr ago
Coincidentally also a large holder on Martin’s other project Shoggoth
5cPzLzLQjt2oc8X6rGannrh7HmVJNAMFJKq21DdZRuHP https://t.co/1uJyZ6ydAC pic.twitter.com/uKz6AAAcKu
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) June 19, 2024
The analyst linked the exchange deposit account to another Shkreli project called Shoggoth.
Previously, experts at Lookonchain identified several insider wallets that profited from Trump-related meme tokens. Other researchers warned of a high likelihood of unfair trading in DJT. According to Bubblemaps, 67% of the asset’s supply is concentrated in one cluster of addresses.
Back in a fundraising meeting for his presidential campaign, Donald Trump declared his intention to become the crypto president. He presented himself as a defender of digital assets and criticized Democratic initiatives to regulate the industry.