Controversial Influencer Launches Meme Coin, Hype Fades Quickly

Within 24 hours of launching on Pump.fun, two Meme coins closely associated with Martin Shkreli plummeted by 94%.

Written by: Protos

Compiled by: Chopper, Foresight News

On Monday, Martin Shkreli announced on the X platform that he would be joining the Solana Meme coin issuance platform Pump.fun and would start live trading. This post garnered over 700,000 views. (Note: Martin Shkreli, nicknamed Pharma Bro, is a highly controversial former pharmaceutical executive and hedge fund manager in the U.S., known for drastically raising the prices of life-saving drugs. After serving time for securities fraud, he has frequently launched Meme coins, causing market turmoil.)

The official Pump.fun account quickly retweeted to congratulate him, stating that his account had achieved a 6263% profit in just one day, with wallet assets reaching $1.6 million.

As of the time of writing, the CITRINI and MARTIN coins he created have both dropped at least 94% from their highs the previous day.

Earlier this month, Martin Shkreli made headlines for shorting Moderna, drawing significant attention from traders. However, shortly after he claimed, "I casually shorted this stock at $80," Moderna announced positive results from its Phase 3 clinical trials, causing its stock price to soar. Currently, Moderna's stock price has doubled from Martin Shkreli's entry price of $80.

MARTIN, CITRINI, DJT, and MSI

The downward price trend is nothing new for Martin Shkreli. In 2024, another Solana Meme coin associated with him, DJT, also experienced wallet sell-offs and a price crash. In 2022, an Ethereum token linked to him, MSI, performed even worse, with followers losing over 90% after buying in.

CITRINI was issued by Martin Shkreli during a live broadcast. Many viewers described it as more of a farce, yet it resulted in real losses for many. From yesterday to today, he continued to live stream trading on the X platform and his personal Pump.fun page, attracting tens of thousands of viewers. Most of the counterparties in the trades were anonymous wallets attempting to profit from the short-term price surge brought on by his endorsement.

The Meme coin MARTIN launched on Monday, peaking at $0.0031 that day, but by Tuesday morning, the price had significantly dropped, with its market cap shrinking to about $150,000. CITRINI followed a similar trajectory, falling from $0.0031 to $0.000087, a decline of 97%.

Repeated Losses

In the comments section of Martin Shkreli's announcement post, a user shared a screenshot showing a 95% loss, accusing him of endorsing a scam project.

In response to complaints on social media, Martin Shkreli maintained his usual vague and evasive communication style, often replying with short statements and not admitting to any issues. When a follower lamented their losses in the comments, he showed no remorse and simply retorted, "How could you lose 97%?"

Countless followers have lost money on Martin Shkreli-related Meme coins, while he leaves almost every response with ambiguous justifications.

CITRINI is not the first collapsing token launched by Martin Shkreli. In July 2022, he introduced Martin Shkreli Inu (MSI), which peaked close to $0.0000343. On August 12 of the same year, a wallet associated with Martin Shkreli sold off over 160 billion MSI in one go, leading to a reported single-day price drop of over 90%. Martin Shkreli claimed that his account was hacked and he was not the seller. Regardless of the truth, MSI's price has since fallen over 95% from its historical high.

Two years later, in June 2024, Martin Shkreli was revealed to be the core figure behind another Meme coin, DJT. This Solana Meme coin surged on rumors of Barron Trump’s involvement, but Trump’s son has never publicly stated he is part of the project. On August 6, 2024, a wallet linked to the contract deployer sold off approximately $2 million worth of DJT, wiping out most of its $55 million total market cap in minutes. Currently, DJT's price is below $0.000033, down over 98% from its historical high.

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