DJT skyrockets on Trump rumors.
PoliFi tokens that share the former president’s name dropped over 10%.
DJT, a crypto token minted two months ago on the Solana blockchain, rallied as much as 180% Monday on an unconfirmed report that former U.S. president Donald J. Trump is behind it.
If the report is true, this would be the first time a presidential candidate from a major political party has created a cryptocurrency – but as of press time, that appears to be a big “if.”
“Per conversations, Trump is launching an official token — $DJT on Solana,” Pirate Wires, a maverick media outlet, posted on X (formerly Twitter).
Trump’s son Barron is “spearheading” the project, said the publication, which is known for its critical reporting on San Francisco Bay Area politicians, irreverent voice and optimistic stance about technology.
Mike Solana, the CMO of venture capital firm Founders Fund and editor-in-chief of Pirate Wires, posted a smart contract address in a reply to his publication’s tweet “for visibility.”
The token in that contract had a $177 million market capitalization at press time.
Meanwhile, PoliFi tokens that share the former president’s name were down double digits on the news, according to CoinGecko data.
The Trump token, the first PoliFi token with a market cap of over $370 million, was down 30%, while Tremp, another token that’s a cross between the former President and Doland Duck – a bastardized version of Donald Duck with an attitude problem – is down over 40% while the Joe Biden-themed Boden token is down 30%.
“They’re targeting us, putting us in the red. Literally seems like a greedy psy op,” Steven Steele, marketing director of the PoliFi Trump token, told CoinDesk in a Telegram message.
Pirate Wires’ Mike Solana later clarified that he “didn’t speak with Trump directly,” and said it was possible that the Republican presidential candidate “could rug pull, or pivot, say it’s not true.”
“Just reporting what I know via sources,” said Mike Solana (his sharing a name with the blockchain is coincidental).
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. As of press time, Trump had posted nothing on his TruthSocial platform mentioning a token.
Crypto community members’ reactions to the report were largely skeptical. Ryan Selkis, founder of data provider Messari and a vocal Trump supporter, said he guessed the odds were “50-50” that the token is legit or an act of deceit.
On Polymarket, the crypto-based prediction market platform, bettors gave only a 7% chance that Trump would launch a token by Friday.
Crypto Twitter sleuths had quickly put together a connection between the coin and convicted pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli, noticing that the admins of the $DJT Telegram group were also admins of a token supported by Shkreli.
On a late night X space Shkreli denied involvement in the token, but claimed to know that it was an authentic project from the campaign and may be listed on exchanges in the near future.
“I can confirm that this is an authentic Trump token. I’m familiar with the situation, but it’s not my token—it’s Trump’s. It’s up to you to decide what you believe, but I’m 100% certain it’s an official Trump token,” he said on the X space. “It’s not my project. I can’t guarantee anything. I don’t speak for it.
UPDATE (June 18, 01:28 UTC): Updates throughout, adds PoliFi token pricing
