This is a segment from the Empire newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe . “I spread the word,” Argentine President Javier Milei reportedly said in a TV interview yesterday defending his promotion of Libra. Milei seems pretty set in denying any wrongdoing in the Libra fiasco, despite promoting the coin on his own social media and watching it tumble more than 90% overnight after briefly hitting a $4.5 billion market cap. A quick timeline for those of you who didn’t catch David’s write-up on LIBRA Monday morning For Milei, who admitted he’s not an “expert,” the lack of judgment here is potentially career-damaging. And my use of “potentially” there is generous given Milei’s excuse that his specialty is “economic growth, with and without money.” Monday morning saw the S&P Merval index — the benchmark stock market index for Argentina — fall over 5%. Mind you, for the folks who don’t keep up with the Argentinian economy, it just exited a recession. As Galaxy’s Alex Thorn pointed out, this is just the latest Solana memecoin debacle after TRUMP and MELANIA earlier this year. And that’s going to lead to some potentially painful questions. “While a souring memecoin narrative had already begun following the liquidity suck caused by $TRUMP’s launch, the fallout from the $LIBRA launch and dump could result in further destruction of the memecoin complex, thus reducing the market’s need to hold SOL,” Thorn wrote in a note. A look at SOLUSD This saga, however, has all the drama: A president in hot water, onchain data showing insider selling, and — as of late last night — an executive departure. Ben Chow, co-founder of Meteora (which was used to create liquidity pools for LIBRA), resigned late Monday after the scandal. Prior to Chow’s resignation, he said: “Meteora and I personally, have never received or managed any tokens on the side, do not receive knowledge or get involved with any offchain dealings, and we keep to the highest levels of confidentiality for any token launch happening on our platform.” There have been questions regarding Meteora and my involvement in $LIBRA , so I want to explain our role and share why we work with 3rd parties. Meteora and I personally, have never received or managed any tokens on the side, do not receive knowledge or get involved with any… — benchow.sol (@hellochow) February 17, 2025 Meow, who founded Jupiter and co-founded Meteora, said he believes Chow’s statement that there wasn’t any “financial inappropriateness in dealing with partners” but that he had “shown a lack of judgment and care about some of the core aspects of the project.” For Thorn, this is just the latest “sordid episode of Solana’s memecoin complex.” Hi, I’m meow from Jupiter, and I also cofounded Meteora. Firstly, I’d like to reiterate my confidence that no one at Jupiter or Meteora committed any insider trading or financial wrongdoing, or received any tokens inappropriately. Secondly, we are hiring an independent 3rd… — meow (🐱, 🐐) (@weremeow) February 18, 2025 Here’s the thing: There’s now a pattern of memecoin launches tied to political figures and I can’t be the only one watching it take place with discomfort. There’s no denying that memecoins have had quite the run, but — as Thorn pointed out — this type of activity could just lead to the market reducing overall positions in SOL. Which leaves me wondering: Where do we go from here? Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter . Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter . Get alpha directly in your inbox with the 0xResearch newsletter — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more. The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.
