Martin Shkreli, known as “Pharma Bro,” claims he was involved in creating the Solana-based token DJT, which has been the subject of intense speculation after rumors it was being “spearheaded” by Donald Trump’s son.
During an X Spaces on June 18, Shkreli revealed he was “helping a friend” when launching the token in April. He said around 10 people were directly involved in its creation, 40 to 50 people were aware of it, and listeners reported that he cited Trump’s son, Barron Trump, as among them.
The space came four hours after Arkham Intelligence offered a $150,000 bounty for whoever could identify the creator of DJT. Arkham posted the bounty in response to Shkreli accepting a $100 million bet with prominent crypto trader GCR on whether the DJT token was “fake.”
“Fuck it, we ball. $150,000 to the first person to definitively prove the identity of the creator of $DJT,” Arkham posted to X on June 18.
“Find definitive evidence of the creator of $DJT. We will accept private proof for this bounty, but if accepted, that proof will be made public,” the bounty notice read. High-profile blockchain sleuth ZachXBT was among those who sent in a submission, which he suggested played a role in Shkreli’s decision to host an X Spaces.
Bets are still on: Did Trump launch DJT?
Elsewhere on the internet, people are continuing to place bets on whether the DJT token was launched by Trump or a member of his family.
Decentralized betting platform Polymarket shows there’s now nearly $1.9 million in bets one way or the other about whether the DJT token is “real.”
Only 17% of the total bets were placed in the “Yes” camp, and the number fell to 7% following Shkreli’s X Space.
Related: Donald Trump vows to end Joe Biden’s ‘war on crypto’
The rumor that Trump is behind the DJT token and that it was “spearheaded” by his son, Barron Trump, first came from an X post by tech blog Pirate Wires, which cited “conversations” but didn’t elaborate on who those conversations were with.
Pressed on where the information was from, Pirate Wires creator Mike Solana noted he “didn’t speak with Trump directly” and was “just reporting what I know via sources.”
DJT is currently trading for 0.012, down more than 66% from its peak of 0.036 on Tuesday, according to Birdseye.
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Update (June 19 at 4:08 am UTC): This article has been updated to include information from Martin Shkreli's X Spaces.