DeFi
Polymarket criticizes Barron Trump vote and DJT token – DL News
- Most Polymarket punters do not believe reports that Barron Trump was involved in creating a new Donald Trump-themed token.
- UMA voters on Monday settled the market in favor of bettors who had wagered that Barron was not involved.
- But Polymarket questioned the outcome of the vote and said it would announce a “short-term solution”.
Did Barron Trump Help Create Donald Trump’s DJT Token? Maybe, but there wasn’t enough evidence to prove it, according to UMA voters asked to evaluate “all available evidence” as of June 23.
UMA is a “decentralized truth machine” that crypto-based betting platform Polymarket uses to settle controversial bets.
But the decision was not well received by Polymarket, which announced on Wednesday that it introduce a “short-term solution” to “maintain market integrity and prices.”
Bettors have wagered over $1 million to see whether “a preponderance of evidence suggests that Barron Trump was involved in the creation of the Solana token $DJT.”
The odds that Barron, the son of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, was involved in the token launch hit 60% on June 20. But those odds quickly plummeted as evidence of his involvement failed to materialize.
The decision was forwarded to UMA, a protocol that aims to settle disputes via token-based voting. Other entities using UMA include voting platform DAO Snapshot, crypto insurer Sherlock, and Ethereum staking research website Rated.
UMA voters overwhelmingly agreed Monday that a “preponderance of evidence” available on June 23 did not suggest Barron’s involvement.
“I think our voters did the right thing and acted honestly,” said Hart Lambur, founder of the UMA. DL News.
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“It was ambiguous and voters thought that a ‘NO’ answer was the least bad answer in a difficult situation.”
Polymarket did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Bet on Barron Trump’s role
The fight started last week, when Pirate Sonsa technology and politics-focused publication, posted on X that “Trump launches official token – $DJT on Solana,” citing “conversations.”
“Barron is the spearhead,” he added, referring to Trump’s 18-year-old son.
But Trump spokesmen have never commented on the DJT report, raising questions about the report’s accuracy.
The bettors on Polymarket were skeptical. They quickly created two betting markets: “Is $DJT real?“And “Was Barron Involved in DJT?” The first asked punters to wager on whether the DJT token was actually created by Trump, a member of his family, or his staff.
Martin Shkreli, a former pharmaceutical executive and hedge fund manager, quickly became the most vocal proponent of the theory that someone in Trump’s inner circle was involved in launching DJT.
“Another Trump insider, more insider than me. There will be many more to come,” Shkreli said on X, linking to a now-deleted post from Bo Loudon, a 17-year-old self-proclaimed Trump activist, that read: “DJT IS THE ONLY REAL TRUMP TOKEN.”
Shkreli later recognized He was “part of the team” behind the token, but he maintains it was a collaborative effort.
Speaking on a live forum hosted by crypto influencer Mario Nawfal on X last Wednesday, Shkreli also claimed that Barron Trump owns the majority of the tokens and is the sole beneficiary of the project.
DL News could not independently verify Shkreli’s claims.
The UMA vote
An insider with direct knowledge of decisions surrounding the Trump campaign said DL News that the campaign was not involved in the project.
Pirate Sons Founder and editor-in-chief Mike Solana defended his reporting on a podcast Friday.
“I know, as sure as I can, that Barron Trump is involved in this,” he said.
“I don’t know to what extent there may be family conflicts behind the scenes, I don’t know if Martin is the reason Barron is involved,” Solana continued.
“I can only tell you, from my perspective, that the son of the president, of former President Donald Trump, was involved in the creation – and certainly the distribution and promotion of this play.”
The question of Barron’s involvement has been escalated to the UMA. The protocol’s token holders vote to settle questions of fact, the idea being that collective wisdom is the best way to reach the truth.
“UMA voters first had to discern what a preponderance of evidence was,” Lambur said.
“It’s very ambiguous and difficult to discern. Then they had to decide whether that kind of evidence was publicly available at the time of the vote.”
The debate took place on the UMA Discord server, where a few users said Solana’s word was enough proof that Barron likely had some involvement in DJT. Others pointed out a screenshot Shkreli shared on X on June 20, in which he exchanges messages with a user called “BT.”
“Did we impose a tax on currency?” BT asks. It is unclear whether BT is Barron Trump and they are talking about DJT.
Others have argued that Solana and Shkreli’s claims do not constitute “evidence.”
“I think there is a preponderance of evidence that the major players here have been in contact with Barron Trump,” one user said. wrote on Discord. “However, I don’t think there is any evidence that Barron was involved in the creation of the token, which is what this deal is about.”
Shkreli and Solana, who is also chief marketing officer of Founder’s Fund, an investor in Polymarket, criticized UMA’s decision.
“Basically the system here is that a lot of people, without any real knowledge of the subject, are speculating,” Solana said. wrote on X. “This speculation, as a whole, is somehow supposed to lead to a ‘real’ conclusion around largely private information. Fascinating.”
Past controversy with the UMA
It is unclear why Polymarket challenged the UMA decision. But this is not the first time that the protocol’s decision-making process has sparked controversy.
About a year ago, UMA voters were asked to place a $2 million bet on whether the U.S. Coast Guard had found the Titan submersible, which had disappeared while on a voyage to the ocean floor.
The Coast Guard recovered pieces of the submersible and determined that it imploded due to a technical failure, instantly killing its five passengers.
UMA voters sided with those who had bet that Titan would be found. But critics said the voters’ decision contradicted the fine print of Polymarket’s bet, which stated that the discovery of pieces of Titan, “but not the cabin containing the ship’s passengers,” would not be considered a “discovery” of the submersible.
Updated June 27:This article has been updated to clarify the outcome of the UMA vote on the “Was Barron Involved in $DJT?” market.
Got a tip? Contact the author at aleks@dlnews.com.