Trump Crypto Leaks Cause 300% Price Drop After Bitcoin Support

Donald Trump, the former US president who is on track for another White House showdown with President Joe Biden this year, has embraced bitcoin in recent months, forcing the Biden administration into a possible crypto pivot.

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The price of bitcoin has soared since the devastating collapse of major bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange FTX in late 2022, with Trump and Biden warned it could be the only way to save the US dollar.

Now, after wild speculation this week that the Trump campaign could be behind a viral new cryptocurrency, a series of leaks have torpedoed those claims, sending the price of rival Bitcoin tumbling.

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ForbesBlackRock Issues ‘Unprecedented’ Fed Warning After $300 Billion Bitcoin, Crypto Price DropBy Billy Bambrough

On Monday, a cryptocurrency called trumpcoin and using the ticker DJT was linked to Trump by the media company. Sons of Piratescreated and led by Mike Solana, who is also vice president of Peter Thiel’s venture capital firm Founders Fund.

“According to conversations, Trump is launching an official token: DJT,” said the Sons of Pirates Account X published, adding that Trump’s 18-year-old son Barron is “the tip of the spear.” Solana reposted the claim, calling it a “scoop” and adding that he “did not speak directly with Trump, assuming it was clear. He is simply reporting what I know via sources.”

The price of DJT, launched just two months ago, jumped around 300% following the claim, with traders betting the price could rise much higher if it was confirmed that the Trump campaign was actually behind it. that.

However, after denying his involvement, outraged entrepreneur Martin Shkreli admitted in leaked messages sent to pseudonymous blockchain detective ZachXBT, and then in an X-spaces show, that he was behind the DJT memecoin, causing its price.

Shkreli, a convicted pharmaceutical executive who made headlines for raising drug prices nearly 10 years ago and earned the nickname “pharma brother,” has become a crypto-influencer since his release in 2022.

“I have 1,000 proofs that I created it with (Trump’s son) Barron,” Shkreli, who had directly denied being involved in memecoin, wrote to ZachXBT in a leaked message. ZachXBT accepted a $150,000 bounty for the identity of the DJT creator offered by crypto analysis firm Arkham Intelligence.

In the meantime, DL News reported that a Trump campaign “insider” denied involvement.

Shkreli, however, continued to claim that he created Bitcoin’s rival in collaboration with Trump’s youngest son, Barron, adding during a show on X Spaces that Barron owned the majority of the cryptocurrency and was the only beneficiary of the project.

Trump has weighed in on bitcoin and crypto in recent weeks after making millions from a series of crypto-based digital trading card non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and putting him in stark contradiction to the position anti-crypto from the Biden administration. Trump declared his support for crypto in late May and began accepting campaign donations in Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Dogecoin and Shiba Inu.

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ForbesIMF issues serious warning of US dollar collapse as Fed prepares Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP for crypto price boomBy Billy Bambrough

Earlier this month, Trump allegedly launched a crypto charm offensive at a Silicon Valley fundraiser hosted by investors David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya, it was reported by Reuters. “He said he would be the president of crypto,” Trevor Traina, a San Francisco-based technology executive and former Trump ambassador to Austria, was quoted by the newswire as saying.

Ryan Selkis, founder of data provider Messari and a staunch Trump supporter, estimated the chances that DJT was legitimately linked to Trump was “50-50” before Shkreli’s messages were leaked.

David Bailey, Managing Director of Bitcoin Magazine who claimed to advise the Trump 2024 election campaign on bitcoin and crypto, warned that if the Sons of Pirates The claim is false, it could scare Trump into walking away from crypto.

“If the DJT Solana coin is fake, whoever propagated it needs to be tarred, feathered and driven out of our industry for good,” Bailey posted on the industry a (bad) appearance and a signal to the president and his team are a liability and not an asset.”