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LIBRA Token Collapse: A $4.4 Billion Market Capitalization Wipeout
The Solana-based LIBRA token, initially promoted by Argentinian President Javier Milei, collapsed within hours of its launch, wiping out $4.4 billion in market capitalization and affecting the overall meme coin market.
The Incident Unfolds
The incident began with Milei’s social media post at 5:01 PM ET, promoting a token purportedly aimed at “boosting the Argentine economy by funding small projects.” However, the project’s website lacked detailed tokenomics or transparent ownership information, raising concerns about the legitimacy of the project.
On-chain analysis revealed concentrated insider activity, with 82% of LIBRA tokens held in a single cluster. According to Bubblemaps data, insiders extracted $87.4 million within the first three hours through strategic liquidity manipulation.
Insider Trading and Market Manipulation
Detailed wallet analysis by Ember CN tracked multiple coordinated trades, revealing the following:
- One address turned 1 million USDC into $8.58 million profit
- Another converted 1.1 million USDC into $6.45 million
- A third wallet transformed 500,000 USDC into $5.15 million
The quick collapse affected the overall crypto market, with even Trump’s meme coin experiencing sharp declines. Over 50,000 wallets acquired LIBRA tokens within two hours of launch, while total market losses exceeded $6 billion during the three-hour downturn.
President Milei Distances Himself
Milei later distanced himself from the project, deleting his initial post and claiming he “was not aware of the details.” He characterized the incident as an attempt by “filthy rats of the political caste” to discredit him.
No estaba interiorizado de los pormenores del proyecto y luego de haberme interiorizado decidí no seguir dándole…
On-Chain Analysts Confirm Extent of Collapse
On-chain analysts later confirmed the LIBRA team had extracted $107 million total, with eight wallets accumulating 57.6 million USDC and 249,671 SOL ($49.7 million) through liquidity manipulation and fee claims. The event marks one of the largest and fastest collapses in meme coin history.
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