The LIBRA token, promoted by Argentine President Javier Milei on his official X account, crashed 85% after its development team removed $87 million in USDC and SOL from liquidity pools, according to data tracked by blockchain analysis firm Bubblemaps. The token, which reached a fully diluted valuation of $4.5 billion within hours of its launch, saw its top 100 holders face average losses exceeding 56% from their initial purchase price of $1.6.
On-chain analyst EmberCN reported that suspected insiders profited around $20 million from trading LIBRA tokens. At least three addresses executed a similar trading pattern, including pre-tweet fund withdrawals from CEXs, immediate post-tweet purchases, and sales as the price climbed. Data shows 82% of LIBRA’s supply is concentrated in connected addresses, raising centralization concerns. The project is linked to KIP Network Inc., developer of the KIP Protocol web3 framework for AI applications, which is backed by Animoca Ventures.
“Assume this is a scam, account funded by a nokyc exchange, usually these sorts of large launches are planned in advance and have multisigs and such,” said Conor Grogan, Coinbase’s head of product. The token is claimed to be part of the Viva La Libertad Project, aimed at supporting Argentina’s economy by funding local businesses and startups. KIP Protocol has been active in Argentina, joining the Buenos Aires City Government’s blockchain committee and meeting with President Milei in October 2024.
The launch of LIBRA came after the Central African Republic (CAR) launched a $CAR memecoin as a national experiment to unite people and support national development, said President Faustin-Archange Touadéra on his official X account last Sunday. Following President Touadéra’s statement, the token blew past $1 billion in market cap but quickly crashed to below $20 million, according to GeckoTerminal data.
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