Mike Collins got rich on suspiciously timed crypto trades

Georgia Rep. Mike Collins made a small fortune trading cryptocurrencies. Some are wondering if he used insider information to do it.

Collins, who is now a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, has made up to $745,000 in crypto transactions since first entering office in 2023. His net worth has increased since then by an estimated $2.5 million.

Personal finance disclosures suggest that some of these transactions were suspiciously timed. Last year, for example, Collins made lucrative crypto trades as Congress was considering the GENIUS Act, a law that created the first federal rules for stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency.

Any news about the GENIUS Act was likely to have an impact on the value of the assets Collins was swapping. It would be like a congressperson buying ExxonMobil stock before introducing a bill that is favorable to the gas industry.

Using insider knowledge to the game crypto or stock markets can be illegal. For stocks, these crimes are prosecuted as insider trading. For crypto, it’s often wire or commodities fraud.

The disclosures show Collins purchasing Ether, a cryptocurrency on the blockchain Ethereum, on April 30, 2025, when it was valued at $1,794. The next day, the GENIUS Act was introduced in the Senate and Ether’s value ballooned to $2,584.

There was no public announcement that the GENIUS Act would be introduced in the Senate on the day it was. It should be noted that while Ether is not a stablecoin, the law was considered a boon to the entire crypto industry.

Collins purchased Ether again on July 8, 2025, at a price of $2,616. The GENIUS Act passed the House nine days later, and Ether’s value ballooned again to $3,673, a gain of 40%.

A similar dynamic played out when Collins purchased the meme coin Ski Mask Dog. A meme coin is a cryptocurrency that generally has little value, but can sometimes become profitable when it is endorsed by a celebrity or receives online buzz.

Critics say meme coins are essentially designed for pump-and-dump schemes, where the price of an asset is artificially inflated before the biggest shareholders sell it off, maximizing their profits and collapsing the value for everybody else.

Collins purchased Ski Mask Dog several times between Sept. 10 and Nov. 29, 2025. The X account Unusual Whales, which tracks unusual market activity, made a post flagging the purchases on Dec. 3, 2025. Collins responded to the post with an image of Pepe the Frog, an internet meme that is sometimes used to convey a cool or savvy attitude.

Pepe the Frog is also used as a white supremacist symbol by the far-right.

Ski Mask Dog’s popularity exploded following the Unusual Whales post. Its trade volume went from $1,384,313 to $37,468161, a 2,606% increase.

Ski Mask Dog has since featured Collins in its promotional materials and advocated for him to be a presidential candidate in 2028.

In 2021, the House Ethics Committee fined North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn $14,000 for engaging in similar activity. Cawthorn invested heavily in the Let’s Go Brandon memecoin and then encouraged others to buy it while failing to follow disclosure rules.

Collins has denied on multiple occasions that there is anything improper about his crypto trades. There is no indication that he has been investigated for the transactions or accused of a crime.

Incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff, whom Collins will face in the November, has made cracking down on political corruption and self-enrichment a focus of his reelection bid.

An AARP poll from July showed Ossoff with a sizable lead over Collins. That margin is expected to narrow as the election gets closer.