American investor and hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli, convicted in 2017 for fraud, announced the launch of decentralized exchange Albumswap.
The new DEX will receive its MS governance token.
An entrepreneur of Albanian origin gained notoriety due to drug speculation. His companies bought the rights to drugs and increased their price many times over. For example, for Thiola, used to treat a rare disease, the increase was about 2000%.
Shkreli's activities caused a wide public outcry in the United States, and he himself was nicknamed «pharma brother» ; [Pharma bro].
In December 2015, the SEC charged him with securities fraud. According to the regulator, the entrepreneur organized a Ponzi scheme. In 2017, the court sentenced him to 7 years in prison and a fine of $7.36 million. In May 2022, Shkreli was released early for good behavior.
Why Albumswap?
In 2015 the entrepreneur bought exclusive rights to the new album of the cult group Wu-Tang Clan for $2 million, which he did not even listen to.
After his release, Shkreli admitted that while in prison, he got acquainted with cryptocurrencies and used the Uniswap decentralized exchange. He called the platform «really cool».
DEX host founder Hayden Adams wrote:
Shkreli responded to Adams' post by asking subscribers:
«Guys , should I start my own DEX to teach this guy a lesson?».
According to the entrepreneur, the project will be a fork of Uniswap, and its name is inspired by the album in question.
«I did not plan this. But I didn't really appreciate his tweet. For me, if I can get at least 5% of their market share, then I will do my job. All I can do is be a thorn in their side,” Shkreli said.
According to a ForkLog report, as of May, Uniswap was the all-time leader among DEXs in terms of monthly trading volume. The platform indicator was $62 billion (over 57% of the total). Second place Curve has over $26 billion.
Data: ForkLog.
Recall that in May, the volume of deals made on Uniswap exceeded the equivalent of $1 trillion since the launch of the DEX in 2018.
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