Two Solana meme coins tied closely to Martin Shkreli cratered in less than 24 hours after his debut on Pump.fun. Protos reported that CITRINI and MARTIN, a token carrying Shkreli’s name, were each down at least 94% from the previous day’s highs at the time of writing.
On Monday, Shkreli said on X that he was joining Pump.fun, the Solana meme coin launch platform, and that he would start livestreaming live trades. That post pulled in more than 700,000 views. Pump.fun’s official account later reposted the announcement and congratulated him, saying his account had grown 6,263% in one day and that his wallet holdings had hit $1.6 million.
Shkreli, still widely known as the controversial former pharmaceutical executive called Pharma Bro, has kept drawing attention for meme coin launches after serving time in prison. Earlier this month, he was back in the news over a short position against Moderna. The report said that soon after he wrote, "I casually shorted this stock at the $80 level" ("wo zai 80 meiyuan jiawei suibian zuokong le zhi gupiao"), Moderna released positive Phase 3 clinical trial results and the stock jumped. Moderna’s share price is now exactly double his stated $80 entry level.
MARTIN and CITRINI dropped soon after launch
MARTIN launched on Monday and rose to $0.0031 that same day. By Tuesday morning, the token had dropped hard, leaving its market capitalization at about $150,000. CITRINI went down a similar road. It slid from $0.0031 to $0.000087, a 97% decline.
Protos said CITRINI was launched during Shkreli’s livestream. Several viewers described the event as more of a farce. But the losses were real for buyers who followed in. From yesterday into today, he kept livestreaming trades on X and on his Pump.fun profile page, drawing tens of thousands of viewers in total. On the other side were mostly anonymous wallets trying to cash in on brief price spikes tied to his public backing.
Loss complaints spread across social media
In replies to Shkreli’s Pump.fun announcement post, users posted screenshots showing losses of 95% and accused him of backing scam projects. Faced with those complaints, Protos said Shkreli stayed with his usual vague style, often replying in short lines and never really admitting there was any problem.
When one follower complained about taking losses, he replied: "How did you lose 97%?" ("ni zenme hui kui 97%?"). The report said losses around Shkreli-linked meme coins have happened again and again, while his public replies usually leave things blurry.
MSI and DJT were raised as earlier examples
This is not the first blowup involving a token linked to Shkreli. Back in July 2022, he launched Martin Shkreli Inu, or MSI. The token’s all-time high came in near $0.0000343. On Aug. 12, 2022, a wallet linked to Shkreli sold more than 160 billion MSI in one move. Bloomberg reported at the time that the token fell more than 90% in a single day. Shkreli said in his defense that his account had been hacked and that he was not the seller. Whatever the reason, MSI is now down more than 95% from its peak.
Two years later, in June 2024, Shkreli was reported to be the central figure behind another meme coin, DJT. That Solana token surged on rumors that Barron Trump was involved in the project, even though Trump’s son never publicly said he was part of it. Then on Aug. 6, 2024, a wallet linked to the contract deployer sold roughly $2 million worth of DJT, wiping out most of its $55 million market capitalization within minutes. DJT now trades below $0.000033, down more than 98% from its all-time high.
From MSI to DJT and now MARTIN and CITRINI, one pattern keeps coming back: heavy losses for followers across one Shkreli-linked meme coin episode after another.
