The LIBRA meme coin, initially framed as a funding mechanism for Argentina, has left a trail of empty wallets and shattered trust following its launch and subsequent collapse.
The fallout revealed an $11 million crater of unrealized losses still hanging over 1,001 remaining holders, according to new research from blockchain analytics firm Nansen.
Reaching a peak of $4.5 billion in valuation before its decline, the LIBRA token’s on-chain aftermath showed that a small group of wallets profited while most traders experienced losses.
“Unrealized losses exceed unrealized gains by $4.57 million, highlighting a significantly larger imbalance,” Nansen analyst Nicolai Søndergaard wrote on Wednesday.
Nansen’s analysis tracked 15,431 wallets trading LIBRA, finding that 86% of addresses recorded realized losses totaling $251 million, while 2,101 profitable wallets netted approximately $180 million collectively.
A crypto “Wild West”
But the damage is more than just numbers.
Arjun Arora, chief operating officer at decentralized orderbook protocol Orderly Network, sees the LIBRA token’s collapse as having broader effects on the crypto industry.
“The scandal reinforces a consensus macro narrative of crypto as a “Wild West”—a space where political influence, insider trading, and lack of transparency can fleece unsuspecting retail investors,” Arora told Decrypt.
LIBRA gained widespread attention after Argentine President Javier Milei’s now-deleted tweet about it. Initially described as a tool to fund small businesses in Argentina, it was subsequently tagged as “just a meme coin” by Hayden Davis, who claimed to be its “launch strategist.”
Days later, fraud charges were leveled against Milei, as Argentina’s stock market dipped following LIBRA’s collapse. On-chain evidence later revealed links between the LIBRA token and the issuers of U.S. First Lady Melania Trump’s MELANIA meme coin.
As the controversy unfolded, Solana experienced liquidity outflows and dropped 8.8%, facing “repercussions” despite, as Nansen’s research pointed out, it not being a direct participant in the launch.
The negative perception following LIBRA’s collapse is “particularly damaging” as the industry “seeks mainstream adoption and legitimacy” from retail pockets and institutional vaults, so much so that it “pushes against all the hardworking builders” in the crypto space, Arora opined.
Early Thursday, Milei arrived in Washington to meet with IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva in a bid to seal a $44 billion deal that could help boost Argentina’s economy.
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