The Solana-based LIBRA memecoin surged to a market cap of roughly $4.5 billion after Argentinian President Javier Milei appeared to promote the token on Twitter last Friday. However, the memecoin quickly crashed, losing 95% of its value, even after Milei deleted his post.
What happened and how did wallets related to the token project cash out $107 million?
What Happened with the $LIBRA Memecoin Launch?
The launch of Argentinian President Milei’s memecoin, $LIBRA, turned into a catastrophe as it led to a staggering loss of $4.5 billion in market cap within just 7 hours. It saw its run on Friday after Argentina’s President Javier Milei publicly promoted the token as a project to encourage the country’s economic growth.
With liquidity pools on Meteora, the token’s price quickly surged to billions but soon imploded as Milei withdrew his support.
But according to Milei, very few Argentines actually lost money in the LIBRA memecoin collapse. During a television interview, he stated that “maybe four or five” Argentines lost money at most, and that the majority of investors were actually “Chinese and American.”
President Milei now faces fraud charges over his involvement and has come under scrutiny for his apparent promotion of the token, which saw eight wallets associated with the Libra team cash out $107 million worth of the token, causing a devastating 95% crash in its value.
The fallout from the collapse even affected Argentina’s major stock index, the S&P Merval, which dropped by over 5.7% in early Monday trading.
Who Is Behind the $LIBRA Memecoin?
According to Chaofan Shou, co-founder of Fuzzland, the market maker/creator of $LIBRA has direct ties to Arunkumar Sugadevan and another Indian serial rugger. Through temporal analysis of fund flows, it was discovered that they are also insiders of the MELANIA and ENRON projects, as well as the developer of OG FUN.
Hayden Davis, CEO of Kelsier Ventures and a “facilitator” to the Libra project, revealed in an interview with YouTuber Coffeezilla that the project’s team sniped its own token at launch.
Sniping is a term in the cryptocurrency space that typically refers to the use of automated bots or smart contracts to execute programmed transactions, buying a large portion of a newly launched token’s supply. The goal of sniping is usually to sell the acquired tokens soon after.
Connection Between $LIBRA and $MELANIA?
On-chain analysis reveals that $MELANIA and $LIBRA belong to the same team. The wallet associated with $MELANIA’s creator not only sniped $MELANIA for a profit of $2.4 million but also sniped $LIBRA, making a profit of $6 million. This same address is linked to the creator of $LIBRA who cashed out a whopping $87 million.
Behind the Scenes Tumult
Because liquidity was provided on Metereo, the founders of it also became sitting ducks. Ben Chow, co-founder of Meteora, has resigned from his leadership position amidst the recent scandal. Meow, the pseudonymous founder of Solana DEX Jupiter and co-founder of Meteora, announced his resignation on Monday, February 17, 2025.
Also, famous Barstool Sports figure Dave Portnoy mistakenly invested nearly $170,000 worth of Solana (SOL) in a random LIBRA token, which is not the same token that has been making headlines.
Shortly after purchasing the token, Portnoy posted on Truth Social (formerly Twitter), saying, “Anybody wanna buy some fake Libra? Warning. This is a meme coin. I bought it by accident. It will be volatile. It will eventually go to zero. It may rip. It may tank. Don’t put on more than you can lose!!! It is a collectible.”
Where can you Buy the $LIBRA Memecoin?
For those interested, Libra coin has been available for trading on MEXC exchange, though trading and holding it is not recommended. As with any investment, only risk capital should be used and holders should be prepared for potential losses when dealing with cryptocurrencies, especially memecoins.
