"LIBRA Memecoin's Argentine Surge and Crash: $251M Lost in Minutes"

The LIBRA memecoin saga that unfolded over the weekend in Argentina has left investors with significant losses, according to research by Nansen. On-chain data tracked by the firm reveals that 86% of traders incurred a total of $251 million in losses, while winners secured only $180 million in profits. This event was a net-negative wealth-generating occurrence that potentially drained liquidity from the market.

The episode serves as a stark reminder that tokens associated with political figures can be as risky as random memecoins and celebrity cryptocurrencies, capable of making or breaking fortunes within minutes. LIBRA debuted on Meteora, a Solana-based decentralized exchange, last Friday, surging to a market cap of over $4.5 billion after Argentina's President Javier Milei expressed support for the project on X. Over 40,000 crypto addresses piled into the token, driving up its price. However, the bullish excitement was short-lived, as insiders offloaded massive numbers of tokens, causing the market cap to plummet by 90%.

Milei eventually deleted his X post, stating that he was "not aware of the details of the project" and chose not to continue promoting it. By then, the damage was already done. The opposition called the whole affair an international embarrassment and threatened to impeach Milei. Nansen reported that 70% of wallets trading LIBRA from February 16th to 18th ended with realized losses, as many likely attempted to profit from Milei's additional retweet. The number of unique holds of the token fell to 35,770 on Feb. 18 from over 50,000 on Feb. 14. Meanwhile, two wallets that bought the token at 22:01 UTC and sold by 22:44 UTC on Feb. 14 made just over $5.4 million in total profit.