Topline
Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., who secured the state’s Republican nomination for Senate earlier this week with President Donald Trump’s endorsement, has invested up to $150,000 in a meme coin since its peak in late 2024, but the bet has since lost nearly all of its value.
“I liked the coins, so I bought them,” the lawmaker said.
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Key Facts
Collins, who first disclosed a pair of investments between $1,001 and $15,000 in the Ski Mask Dog meme coin in December 2024, has reported a dozen transactions involving the cryptocurrency, including 11 purchases and his lone sale in May 2025.
The transactions would value his Ski Mask Dog holdings up to $165,000, or at least $10,010.
Collins last traded Ski Mask Dog, or $SKI, in August 2025, when he reported another purchase between $1,000 and $15,000, according to a congressional disclosure.
Ski Mask Dog hit an all-time high of just over $0.27 on Dec. 5, 2024, just two days after Collins reported his first purchase of the meme coin, and $SKI has since crashed by nearly 98% to about one-half of a cent as of Thursday.
The lawmaker has disclosed investments in other cryptocurrencies, including ethereum, Aerodrome Finance and Virtuals Protocol.
what is the ski mask dog meme coin?
Ski Mask Dog, represented by an image of a dog wearing a ski mask, has traded since May 2024 with a circulation of just under 1 billion tokens, according to CoinMarketCap. The meme coin hit an all-time market capitalization of $277 million during its December 2024 peak, but it has since plummeted to $5.6 million. The token’s website said its logo is a “representation of freedom to express ourselves without judgment, both online and in real life,” and claims $SKI is a “protest against the degradation of society.”
crucial quote
“I liked the coins, so I bought them,” Collins told Decrypt when asked why he purchased Ski Mask Dog. “Washington and Wall Street have stigmatized emerging technology in the crypto ecosystem for far too long, and it’s about time that we start treating this industry with the respect it deserves.”
key background
Collins, a second-term congressman representing Georgia’s 10th Congressional District, won the Republican primary runoff for Senate on Tuesday after a late endorsement from Trump. He will face Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in the November general election, representing one of several races that could determine Senate control. Collins is the subject of an investigation by the House Ethics Committee over allegations that Collins’ office paid a district office intern who had a relationship with Collins’ chief of staff but did not actually work in the office. He has called the allegation a “bogus claim.”