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Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
The launch of the Solana-based meme coin LIBRA, which was promoted as a way to fund small businesses and startups.Pre-Launch insider activity: According to a report by TRM Labs, 20 minutes before Milei’s announcement, an address received 1 million $LIBRA tokens and added them to a Meteora liquidity pool.All-time high: LIBRA reached $0.75, giving it a market capitalization of $4.5 billion.Rapid decline: The price crashed nearly 90% within hours, triggering accusations of fraud and a pump-and-dump scheme.Liquidity withdrawals: Wallets linked to the LIBRA team withdrew $7.8 million in SOL, contributing to the price collapse.February 18, 2025 – The fallout beginsArgentina’s stock market dropped more than 5% at the opening in Buenos Aires, adding to financial instability.Milei deleted his post promoting LIBRA and denied prior knowledge of the project, as a judge was assigned to head a probe into fraud allegations.Investors accused KIP Protocol and its CEO, Julian Peh, Kelsier Ventures and its CEO, Hayden Davis, Mauricio Novelli, and Manuel Godoy of the Tech Forum Argentina of wrongdoing in the LIBRA scandal.Insider trading allegationsExperts suspect the LIBRA token collapsed due to insider activity. According to San Francisco-based analytics firm TRM Labs, 20 minutes before President Milei’s tweet, one address received 1 million LIBRA tokens, added them to a Meteora liquidity pool, and distributed more to other addresses that did the same.Soon after, on-chain investigation firm Bubblemaps identified that wallets linked to the LIBRA team had withdrawn $87 million in SOL from the pool, gradually crashing LIBRA’s price.In addition to allegations of fraud against Milei, investors accused KIP Protocol and its CEO, Julian Peh, Kelsier Ventures and its CEO, Hayden Davis, Mauricio Novelli, and Manuel Godoy of the Tech Forum Argentina of wrongdoing in the LIBRA scandal.On February 17, 2025, Davis told Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy that Davis was “sitting on $100 million” following LIBRA’s launch—further fueling the controversy. Davis claimed he did not intend to run off with the money.“It’s not mine,” Davis said. “It’s Argentina’s.”That same day, on-chain analysis revealed that the Solana-based platform Meteora—known for creating the TRUMP and MELANIA meme coins—was also behind the LIBRA token. Following the collapse of LIBRA and emerging insider trading allegations, Meteora co-founder Ben Chow resigned.In a tweet, Solana-based exchange Jupiter said that the launch of LIBRA had been an "open secret" in meme coin circles. The exchange said that it found no evidence of insider trading or “sniping” by its own team members following an internal investigation, adding that the company takes claims of insider trading “EXTREMELY seriously.”“The memecoin launch game is a dirty game with plenty of ugly behavior,” Jupiter wrote. “We, however, have nothing to hide.”“We were completely unaware of the dealings between the principals, in this case Milei
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