The Jupiter team has responded to allegations regarding their participation in the controversial launch of the $LIBRA memecoin, which saw a rapid rise and subsequent crash after being promoted by Argentine President Javier Milei.
In a now-deleted post, Milei labelled the token as a “private project” to boost the Argentine economy, providing a website and contract address. Despite anticipation from memecoin insiders, the launch ultimately resulted in a dramatic $4 billion market cap loss, as reported by Dexscreener.
It all began with this post at 5:01 PM ET from Javier Milei.
As seen during President Trump’s memecoin launch, the first hour was full of speculation:
Was this a hack or a real launch?
It turned out to be real as multiple other Argentinian politicians posted the news. pic.twitter.com/cL0ZQgxtCB
— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) February 15, 2025
Milei’s deleted X post. Source: Kobeissi Letter
Jupiter announced on February 17 that some team members were aware of a potential Argentina-linked token launch but had no specific details, such as timing or contract address. They learned about the project approximately two weeks prior from Kelsier Ventures, which confirmed Milei’s involvement. The team emphasized that their knowledge was limited, and they were not involved in any dealings between Milei and the market makers.
They confirmed that no team members received $LIBRA tokens or compensation for the launch. They denied insider trading claims, stating they did not pre-verify the contract address and waited for public confirmation and market volume before adding $LIBRA to their Strict List. The token’s market capitalization was around $1.5 billion by the time of listing.
The company has conducted an internal investigation regarding insider trading allegations and found no evidence of leaks or sniping activities. They also expressed ongoing commitment to improving the memecoin ecosystem by addressing issues like sniping and bundling. Co-founder Meow is expected to give more information later today.
In another development, Jupiter’s X account was recently hijacked by scammers to promote a fake memecoin called MEOW, causing a $30 million market cap spike before it crashed by 98% due to a rug pull. Jupiter’s official X account warned users against the compromised account and confirmed that the platform’s multisignature security remained intact. Efforts to regain control of the account were in progress.
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