Argentina’s $LIBRA token hits $4.5B before crashing 89% as Milei withdraws endorsement

Argentina’s President Javier Milei has withdrawn his endorsement of the LIBRA meme token, saying that he has no connection with the project.

Milei admitted that he had not taken enough time to research the token before supporting it. After finding out more about it, he unfollowed its Twitter account.

The president’s X account promoted a Solana meme coin called $LIBRA late Friday. According to him, the token was designed to stimulate the economy by funding small businesses.

Traders initially piled in to buy the meme coin, driving it to a market cap of roughly $4.5 billion.

This growing skepticism over the token’s legitimacy and concerns of a potential pump-and-dump scheme led to a sharp price drop.

LIBRA crashes 89% as traders question its legitimacy

Just a few hours after being launched on X (formerly Twitter), LIBRA fell 89%. The crypto analytics platform DexScreener reports that the token rose to $4.50 at launch before falling to $0.50.

The Viva La Libertad Project’s website states that the meme coin initiative aimed to strengthen Argentina’s economy by supporting small projects and local businesses.

“This private project will be dedicated to encouraging the growth of the Argentine economy by funding small Argentine businesses and startups,” a message initially posted and deleted in Milei’s account read (as translated by X). “The world wants to invest in Argentina.”

The incident echoed the unexpected launch of U.S. President Donald Trump’s TRUMP token in January, just days before his inauguration. Like that event, meme coin traders rushed to buy LIBRA as its value surged—only to later question its legitimacy and whether President Milei’s account had been compromised.

Trump’s token ultimately proved legitimate, and according to Bloomberg Línea, Milei confirmed that he did share the LIBRA token launch.

On-chain analysts exposed LIBRA’s red flags as developers allegedly dump $87M in tokens

As concerns mounted over the launch, market concern rose, and many traders sold their assets while on-chain analysts pointed out several issues. Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis highlighted key issues, including the token’s initial funding in SOL from an instant swap service and a significant portion of the supply being controlled by a single wallet.

Chainalysis observed that both the address that initiated the token’s creation and the address that holds a significant portion of the LIBRA supply are controlled by single private keys instead of multi-signature setups, which are prevalent in newly established token launches.

On-chain data visualization startup Bubblemaps claimed that the LIBRA team is unloading their assets, which has led to a rapid price drop over recent hours. Bubblemaps posted on X saying they had already made $87M by removing USDC and SOL from liquidity pools. The researchers pointed out that LIBRA dropped 85% in value after devs took in $87M of buy pressure into their accounts. There is $500M more to go.

A note at the bottom of the project’s website identified it as a private initiative developed by KIP Network Inc., linking $LIBRA to the company and its KIP Protocol, a Web3 framework for AI applications.

Multiple experts pointed out that the token’s distribution model presents major risks. Coinbase Head of Product Conor Grogan reminded everyone that established launches use multi-signature wallets and strict KYC measures.

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