Insider Trading Allegations Following LIBRA Collapse Prompts Resignation of Meteora Co-Founder

Insider trading has been happening in the famously trustworthy world of shitcoins? No way!

In shocking news for degens everywhere, Ben Chow, the co-founder and former CEO of Solana-based DeFi protocol Meteora, has stepped down amid accusations of insider trading following the crash of LIBRA, the latest shitcoin sensation linked to Javier Milei — the head of state of an actual country. 

You know the crypto markets are in good shape when you need to specify which head of state is linked to which shitcoin.

Chow’s resignation was confirmed on X / Twitter by the pseudonymously-named ‘Meow’, the co-founder of both Meteora and the Solana-based dex Jupiter. Meow claimed Chow’s lack of judgement over recent months was the reason he stepped down.

Chow posted his own statement to X / Twitter essentially deflecting blame and defending his platform:

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.

Ben Chow, Meteora Co-founder

The collapse of LIBRA comes in the wake of the Donald Trump-linked shitcoins, TRUMP and MELANIA, both of which experienced similar rapid rises and stomach-churning descents. 

This constant flow of high-profile, largely Solana-based shitcoins has eroded confidence in crypto. That’s triggered significant sell-offs as it becomes increasingly clear to even casual observers that much of the crypto market is controlled and manipulated by a relatively small group of insiders profiting at the expense of retail investors.

Related: After LIBRA Scandal, Kelsier Ventures Eyes Nigerian Expansion with New Solana Blockchain Project

Chow Defends Working Extensively with Shitcoin “Deployer” Behind MELANIA

In his post to X Ben Chow explained he had decided to work extensively with the shitcoin “deployer” behind the LIBRA launch, Hayden Davis, because he’d done such a good job — and apparently proved himself so trustworthy — on the launch of an earlier token called M3M3. 

Chow said he specifically recommended Davis and his company, Kelsier Ventures, to the MELANIA team — while also distancing himself from that failed project: 

they [Kelsier Ventures] appeared to be trustworthy and I referred them to a handful of other projects that had inquired with us about deployer firms, which included the team behind $MELANIA. As with other projects, our role was limited to IT support and the tech we built for token launches. Like with any other unaffiliated token that lives on Meteora, we did not purchase, receive or manage any tokens on the side related to $MELANIA.

Ben Chow, Meteora Co-founder

Regarding LIBRA specifically, Chow once again claimed very limited involvement, stating he and the Meteora team didn’t leak information or purchase, receive or manage any token:

For $LIBRA, although we were made aware of the possibility of it several weeks ago by Hayden, we had no involvement in the project at all beyond providing IT support, including commenting on the liquidity curve and helping verify the token’s authenticity after the token was publicly launched.

Ben Chow, Meteora Co-founder

Meow Maintains Nothing Dodgy Happened

In announcing Chow’s resignation as CEO of Meteora, Meow made the somewhat contradictory statement that he’s apparently “100% confident about Ben’s character”, before immediately adding “he has also shown a lack of judgement and care about some of the core aspects of the project.” 

Despite holding the role of CEO, Meow also distanced himself from whatever it was that was happening at Meteora, claiming:

Meteora has been operating as a separate entity from Jupiter for over a year now and Ben has been running it without my significant involvement.

Meow, Co-founder of Meteora and Jupiter

Meow said law firm Fenwick & West — “one of the most reputable law firms in the world”, — had been hired to conduct an investigation into what exactly went wrong with the LIBRA launch. 

The Jupiter founder also claimed that the series of Solana-based shitcoin disasters that have struck crypto recently are a “watershed moment”, adding “it’s very very obvious to me now that the way to grow the industry is not simply via more tokens.” Apparently even the guys making millions of dollars in fees running the shitcoin launchpads realise that screwing over the entire crypto market every week or so isn’t actually good for the industry.

Investigation Identifies Money Trail Linking MELANIA and LIBRA

Meanwhile, a joint investigation run by blockchain analytics platform Bubblemaps and crypto investigator CoffeeZilla has identified strong links between one of the largest MELANIA holders and the wallet which directly created LIBRA, establishing a money trail between the projects. 

Bubblemaps says it’s “highly confident” that its evidence does show the projects are linked.

Related: Catastrophic $LIBRA Collapse Leads to Calls to Impeach Argentine President Milei

Bubblemaps suggests the group behind these wallets may have also been responsible for a swathe of other pump and dump shitcoins, including TRUST, KACY, VIBES and HOOD.