Blockchain analysts have exposed Libra’s connections to other dubious cryptocurrency projects, including Melania Trump’s official token, intensifying concerns following its endorsement by Argentina’s President, Javier Milei. On February 16, Chaofan Shou , co-founder of Fuzzland, alleged that LIBRA’s market maker operates out of Delhi and was also involved in the MELANIA meme coin. Shou exposes insider manipulation and hidden networks in meme coin launches Some of the wallet details that Shou provided showed that one company was running the two projects, raising concerns about potential coordinated insider activity . He also associated the Libra team with tokens such as ENRON and OGME, which also showed similar tendencies in price control. These projects saw their prices rise due to insider trading and automated bots and then crashed when retail investors were left with losses. This is acutely similar to pump-and-dump schemes, which are meant to take advantage of traders. Moreover, Shou mapped out a graph of the relationships and power dynamics behind the launch of various meme coins, which tells a rather bleak story about the market. At the center of this ecosystem is a behind-the-scenes figure person believed to control “M3M3 Launchpad,” who offers insider information, financing, and strategic direction. LIBRA Connection to Other Crypto Projects. Source: X/Chaofan Shou The central figure is connected to major personalities such as Hayden Davis (alias Kelsier) who has $ENRON and possibly outsourced to Axiom MM, a company that is thought to be a market maker. One other person, referred to as the ‘Some Delhi Dude’ is connected to the launching of $OGME and $AIAI indicating that there is a web of people who are behind the launch of different projects. The diagram also comically tags “Random dudes who know Argentina’s president,” which suggests that some meme coin projects have the backing of powerful people and can use this as a way to gain credibility and control the market. The meme coins associated with this ecosystem include $ENRON, $MELANIA, $OGME, $RAG, $M3M3, $LIBRA, $BOB, and $AIAI. All of them reflect the highly speculative and not always clear nature of the market. Many of these tokens are based on popular personalities or pop culture trends to generate interest and cause sharp price appreciation, which then crashes. For instance, the MELANIA token was launched shortly before Donald Trump’s second-term campaign launch and briefly took its market cap to $2 billion before falling to just $200 million. Libra also experienced a dramatic rise after Milei’s endorsement and then a catastrophic fall when insiders siphoned off $107 million from the platform, causing panic among investors. Milei denies involvement, while KIP and Kelsier blame each other for Libra token collapse After LIBRA’s price crashed , Milei claimed not to know anything about the project and demanded an investigation into what he called market manipulation. Some of the critics have even called for his impeachment on both financial and political grounds. However, KIP Protocol, the company associated with Libra, has denied wrongdoing. Julian Peh, the CEO of KIP, noted that all the funds are still on the chain and are well accounted for and explained that KIP had no control over the launch of the token and that the blame should be placed on Kelsier, the market maker of the project. KIP said : KIP has taken on a lot of FUD today, including with threats to me and my staff, but we were not involved in the launch, we did not handle any tokens or SOL. KIP publicly acknowledged its role in the project (though not in the token issuance) because we were already listed on the website and believed in the initiative’s potential . KIP Protocol On the other hand, Hayden Davis from Kelsier accused President Milei and his team of making investors lose their funds, stating that meme coin investing is based on trust and endorsement. When Milei’s team took down their promotional posts, the market fell sharply, and panic selling was initiated. However, Davis still defended the project and plans to invest $100 million back into it. Instead of transferring the assets to Milei’s associates or KIP, Kelsier plans to invest the funds back into LIBRA and burn all the acquired tokens. Cryptopolitan Academy: Are You Making These Web3 Resume Mistakes? - Find Out Here
