- LIBRA’s price peaked at $4.55 before falling 80%, costing investors $251 million in total losses.
- Two wallets earned $5.4M and $5.1M respectively within 43 minutes of LIBRA’s launch.
- Unique holders dropped from 50.7k to 31.95k between February 14 and February 20.
LIBRA launched on February 14, 2025, after Argentina’s President Javier Milei endorsed it on X. The token was framed as an instrument for economic support in Argentina. Thousands of traders immediately responded to LIBRA’s launch by participating when it reached a $4.5 billion market cap. The rapid sell-off activity from insiders led to a swift market drop.
The minting of LIBRA occurred at 21:38 UTC before President Javier Milei tweeted about it at 22:01 UTC. The price reached $4.55 in 44 minutes yet experienced a collapse moments later. Many traders experienced financial losses after they lost their advantage to the initial traders who cashed out with substantial profits. According to on-chain data tracked by Nansen, two addresses that bought and sold within this window made $5.4 million, and one wallet alone secured $5.1 million.
After the token crashed, Milei deleted his endorsement tweet, distancing himself from the project. Meanwhile, Hayden Davis, one of the involved parties, dismissed LIBRA as a meme coin. By February 18, the number of unique holders dropped from 50,700 to 31,957.
According to on-chain data, 15,431 wallets experienced significant gains or losses exceeding $1,000. Out of these, 86% faced losses totaling $251 million, while 2,101 wallets realized $180 million in profits. The largest single wallet winner made $25 million, while the 15 worst-hit wallets lost a combined $33.7 million.
Despite the crash, some wallets continued trading LIBRA. A February 17 retweet from Milei caused a brief price spike of 125%, but it retraced within 24 hours. Beyond LIBRA, Solana’s liquidity fell from $12.1 billion to $8.29 billion. Although Solana was not directly involved, the turmoil surrounding LIBRA affected market sentiment.
LIBRA’s collapse has highlighted the risks of politically endorsed tokens as insiders made millions while retail traders absorbed the losses.
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