Author: Revc, Golden Finance
February 14, 6 am: Argentine President Mille's official X account announced the LIBRA Meme coin, and the coin price rose rapidly.
February 14, 10 am: LIBRA price peaked and then plummeted, with a 4-hour trading volume of $1.2 billion.
February 14, 11:30 am: Mille deleted the LIBRA tweet, and the coin price fell rapidly.
February 14, 11:38 am: Mille said he was "unaware of the LIBRA project" and condemned the manipulation behind the scenes.
February 14, 11:36 noon: LIBRA team KIP Protocol clarified that Mille did not participate in the development.
February 14, 12:54 pm: Solayer founder revealed losses and exposed KIP Protocol core members.
February 15, 1:42 am - February 17: Jupiter and Meteora clarified that they did not participate in the issuance of LIBRA; Solayer founder continued to reveal behind-the-scenes information; YouTube reporter revealed that the LIBRA team admitted to internal preemption.
February 16, 11:38 am: The Argentine Presidential Office announced that it would investigate the issuance of LIBRA, and Mile asked the Anti-Corruption Office to intervene.
February 16, 2:24 pm: The relationship diagram of LIBRA parties revealed that the issuer was associated with insider trading of multiple Meme coins.
February 16 evening: LIBRA consultant Kelsier plans to use $100 million to buy back and destroy; the opposition party threatens to impeach Mile.
February 17 - February 18: Bubblemaps and Solayer founders accused MELANIA of manipulating LIBRA; Coffeezilla disclosed that the LIBRA team admitted to jumping the gun; an Argentine law firm filed a complaint with the US DOJ and FBI; the MELANIA TV program responded that it "acted in good faith" and later forwarded a tutorial on how to buy LIBRA.
Re-examination of the roles of all parties:
Javier Milei - President of Argentina:From the initial platform publicity to the rapid separation, the attitude reversed, the role was complicated, and his behavior directly affected the market trend and credibility of LIBRA.
Hayden Davis (Kelsier Ventures): LIBRA issuance consultant, actual operator, admitted to the "sniping" behavior, but defended it as the industry norm and project protection, controlled a large amount of project funds, and the refund plan was controversial.
KIP Protocol: LIBRA's main sponsor, distanced itself from token issuance and market making, and emphasized that it only provided technical support, trying to reduce the negative impact of the incident on its reputation.
MELANIA team: The most suspected behind-the-scenes manipulation, on-chain evidence points to LIBRA and MELANIA being operated by the same team, suspected of building a "harvest chain" and engaging in insider trading.
Jupiter & Meteora: Platform providers, Jupiter provides transactions for LIBRA, and Meteora is used for token issuance. Both declare that they are only technical platforms and have no interest relationship with the project party. They clarify and maintain their reputation in a timely manner.
Chaofan Shou (Founder of Solayer): The core whistleblower of the LIBRA incident, questioned it in the early stage and continued to track it through technical analysis, exposing insider information, promoting the fermentation of the incident, and becoming a victim himself.
Coffeezilla (YouTube reporter): In-depth interview with Hayden Davis, trying to dig out the truth, the content of the interview has become an important window for the outside world to understand the inside story of the LIBRA incident.
Investors (retail investors): The biggest victims of the LIBRA incident, due to FOMO emotions and celebrity effect, suffered huge losses, and their trust in the market dropped to the freezing point.
KOLs (Dave Portnoy, etc.): Some KOLs (mainly in Europe and the United States, the same below) played an ambiguous role in the incident, knew in advance or participated in the promotion, but the information disclosure was not transparent, and their credibility was damaged.
CEXs (centralized exchanges): The exchange's coin listing review mechanism has been questioned again, and it is facing the pressure of reflection and taking responsibility for investor education.
VC (Venture Capital Institution): Although not prominent in the LIBRA incident, the role of VC in the Meme coin field deserves attention, and its early advantages contrast with the risks of retail investors.
The core contradiction of the LIBRA incident is the complex emotional game and trust crisis between insider team, DEX, KOL and investors:
Investors vs. DEX:Investors flocked to DEX to participate in MEME coin transactions. As a platform, DEX lacked responsibility in auditing, risk warnings and investor protection, which caused dissatisfaction among investors. Investors questioned whether DEX allowed or even condoned high-risk MEME coin transactions in pursuit of traffic and handling fee income.
Investors vs. KOLs: Some KOLs played a role of "adding fuel to the flames" in the LIBRA incident, using their influence to promote it, but the information disclosure was not transparent, and there may even be interest transfer. Investors' trust in KOLs has dropped to a freezing point, questioning their "independence" and "objectivity".
Within the investor group: There is also an emotional confrontation between new investors and experienced old investors. New investors suffered heavy losses due to lack of risk awareness, and old investors were disappointed and angry about the market chaos. The investor group generally felt anxious, confused and trust collapsed.
This crisis of trust exposed the blurred boundaries of responsibility of key roles in the crypto community ecosystem. While pursuing interests, DEX, KOL and project parties must assume corresponding responsibilities and establish a more transparent and responsible industry ecosystem. Investors also need to enhance their own risk awareness, participate in the market rationally, and not blindly believe in the "myth of getting rich quickly."
The LIBRA incident once again sounded the alarm:MEME coin speculation is a microcosm of excessive financialization in the crypto industry. The extreme PVP game and interest groups harvesting retail investors will eventually damage the foundation of the industry. Only when Web3 truly develops application-layer entity businesses can this situation be fundamentally improved:
Excessive financialization vs. dApp applications:In the current crypto industry, a large amount of funds and energy are concentrated on financial speculation and speculative transactions, while the development of Web3 entity applications is relatively lagging, lacking application scenarios with real commercial value and user base.
MEME coin is an extreme embodiment of "financialization": MEME coin has no actual value support and is completely dependent on market sentiment and capital speculation. It is an extreme embodiment of crypto financial speculation. The LIBRA incident is the inevitable consequence of this extreme financialization.
Web3 applications are the key to breaking the deadlock: The real potential of Web3 lies in building an open, transparent, and decentralized digital world. It is necessary to empower all walks of life with blockchain technology and create real value, rather than just staying in financial idleness and concept speculation.
dApp improves user experience and value precipitation: The development of Web3 applications can enhance users' awareness and acceptance of blockchain technology, guide users' attention from "speculating on coins to get rich" to "application value", and promote the true realization of the value Internet.
Web3 needs to get rid of the trap of excessive financialization and return to the original intention of technological innovation and application value creation. The industry needs to pay more attention to the application layer and infrastructure construction, and incubate more Web3 projects with practical application scenarios and user value to build a healthier and more sustainable development ecology.
The LIBRA incident also reflects that Web3 projects still have a significant gap compared with mature Web2 products in terms of business model, commercialization and user experience. The real "face-to-face" between Web3 and Web2 still faces many challenges:
Sustainability of business model:Meme coin projects such as LIBRA lack practical application scenarios and intrinsic value. Their value is completely based on market sentiment and hype. It is difficult to form a sustainable business model, and the bubble burst is inevitable.
Exploration of commercialization path:The commercialization path of Web3 projects is not clear, the profit model is single, and it is overly dependent on token issuance and transaction fees, which is difficult to support long-term healthy development.
User experience gap:Crypto wallets are complex to operate, with high transaction thresholds. The user experience is still far behind the convenience and friendliness of Web2 products, which hinders the large-scale popularization of Web3. In the LIBRA incident, a large number of investors suffered losses due to unfamiliarity with the rules and risks of the crypto market, which also reflects the lack of user education and experience optimization.
Competition with Web2 giants:In terms of user experience and business model maturity, Web3 projects currently do not have the strength to compete with Web2 giants. They are at a disadvantage in terms of traffic and user habits. To truly "fight" with Web2, Web3 still needs to make continuous breakthroughs in business model innovation and user experience improvement.
The future development of Web3 not only depends on technological innovation, but also requires the maturity of business models and the improvement of user experience. How to build a sustainable economic model, explore diversified profit models, lower the user threshold, and improve user experience is the key to the popularization of Web3. The LIBRA incident also reminds practitioners that they should not only focus on the hype of political and economic concepts, but also return to the essence of business and improve the practicality and user-friendliness of Web3 applications.
The collapse of public chain Meme coins such as BSC and Solana, as well as the outbreak of the LIBRA incident, all indicate that the PVP (Player vs Player) game in the field of asset issuance has reached a white-hot stage, insider trading has become the "unspoken rule" of the industry, and the market is staging the "last carnival" of the zero-sum game:
The essence of the zero-sum game:The Meme coin market is highly speculative, and the essence of the fund game of passing the parcel is a zero-sum game. A very small number of "insiders" and early participants make profits, and the vast majority of retail investors who enter the market later are destined to become "takers".
Professional "harvesting" team:A professional "harvesting" team has been formed in the market, from project packaging, data falsification, wallet address allocation to KOL marketing, forming a complete "cutting leeks" industry chain, and retail investors have weak identification ability.
Normalization of insider trading: The Meme coin issuance mechanism has natural insider management loopholes. Project parties, KOLs, and exchange internal personnel can easily obtain insider information, make advance layouts and transfer benefits. Insider trading has almost become an industry "unspoken rule".
The "last moment" of PVP game:The adverse impact of the LIBRA incident and the awakening of investors' protection awareness indicate that the extreme PVP game model of Meme coin may have come to an end, and the market urgently needs a healthier and more sustainable asset issuance and trading model.
The LIBRA incident is a concentrated outbreak of PVP game and insider trading chaos in the Meme coin market, and it is also a profound warning to the existing market mechanism and participants. Excessive speculation and zero-sum game models will eventually be unsustainable. The market needs to return to value investment and establish a fairer and more transparent trading environment to rebuild investor confidence and promote the healthy development of the industry.
The evolution of blockchain asset issuance is a history of technological innovation and market competition. From POW to Pump.fun, the issuance threshold has been continuously lowered and the participation rate has continued to increase, but it has also accelerated the expansion of market bubbles:
POW (Proof-of-Work) - Proof of Work:
Issuance method design: By calculating hash puzzles to compete for the right to record, the winner will receive block rewards (new coins), which depends on computing power competition and energy consumption.
Participation threshold: High, requiring professional mining machines, power resources and technical knowledge. Early participants are mainly technical geeks and professional miners.
Consensus: Based on cryptography and economic incentives, decentralized mining maintains network security and operation, forming an early community consensus.
Value basis: Early consensus, scarcity, decentralized characteristics, and the narrative of being "digital gold".
Network operation: Depends on miners to maintain network security, and transaction speed and scalability are limited.
Evolutionary significance: It lays the foundation for the issuance of encrypted assets and establishes the principles of decentralization and fair issuance, but the high threshold limits the scope of participation.
POS (Proof-of-Stake) - Proof of Equity:
Issuance method design: Users who hold and pledge tokens will obtain bookkeeping rights and interest rewards according to the proportion and duration of holding tokens, reducing the dependence on computing power.
Participation threshold: Medium, lowering the hardware and energy thresholds, but still need to hold a certain amount of tokens and technical knowledge, and the scope of participants is expanded.
Consensus: Based on the rights and interests of token holders and community governance, token holders participate in network maintenance and decision-making to form a broader community consensus.
Value foundation: The consensus mechanism is more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly, improves network performance, expands application scenarios, and the value narrative moves from "digital gold" to "value Internet infrastructure".
Network operation: Improve transaction speed and scalability, reduce energy consumption, but there may be centralization risks and the "rich get richer" effect.
Evolutionary significance: Improve network performance and scalability, lower the threshold for participation, and promote the prosperity of the public chain ecosystem, but the token distribution and governance model of the POS mechanism still need to be improved.
Friendtech - Social Tokens:
Issuance Design: Based on social relationships and KOL influence, users purchase "Shares" to support KOLs, and KOL income is linked to the value of Shares, tokenizing personal influence.
Participation Threshold: Low, users only need to have a social account and a crypto wallet to participate, and issuance is more convenient and social.
Consensus Building: Based on KOL personal influence and fan economy, initial consensus is established quickly, but it is also highly dependent on KOL personal reputation and continuous operation capabilities.
Value foundation: KOL influence, fan economy, social interaction, the value foundation is relatively fragile, and is easily affected by KOL personal risks and market sentiment fluctuations.
Network operation: Based on the existing public chain (such as Base), it has strong social attributes, but the actual application scenarios and network effects still need to be expanded.
Evolutionary significance: It has innovated the asset issuance method, tokenized personal influence, and expanded the application boundaries of encrypted assets, but it also exposed the sustainability and value support issues of the social token model.
Pump.fun - One-click coin issuance platform:
Issuance method design: Extremely simplified coin issuance process, users do not need code knowledge, one-click can issue Meme coins, and automatically inject liquidity.
Participation threshold: Extremely low, almost zero threshold, anyone can issue coins, and the speed and convenience of coin issuance are extreme.
Consensus cohesion: Completely dependent on market sentiment and FOMO effect, consensus is established very quickly but fragile, and is easily affected by market sentiment and "harvesting" behavior.
Value Basis: There is almost no actual value basis, pure MEME culture and emotional value, highly dependent on market hype and "get rich" expectations.
Network Operation: Based on public chains such as Solana, the transaction speed is fast, but the security and degree of decentralization are questionable, and it is easy to be manipulated by project parties and insiders.
Evolutionary Significance: Pushing asset issuance towards "popularization" and "entertainment", but also accelerating the expansion of the Meme coin bubble, and market risks are out of control.
Data support: MEME coin 24-hour wealth creation myth and bubble risk
Platforms such as Pump.fun have lowered the threshold for issuing coins to the freezing point. The issuance speed and wealth creation effect of MEME coins are astonishing: MEME coins such as LIBRA can soar to billions of dollars in market value within 24 hours, attracting countless investors to enter the market due to FOMO, but also burying huge bubble risks.
24-hour "wealth creation" myth: Meme coins such as LIBRA have skyrocketed and plummeted in a short period of time, staging extreme market conditions of "getting rich overnight" and "returning to zero in an instant", attracting speculators and "gamblers" to enter the market.
Intensified bubble risk: Platforms such as Pump.fun have fueled the Meme coin bubble, and a large number of low-quality, value-unsupported Meme coins have flooded into the market, accelerating the expansion of the bubble, and ultimately unable to escape the fate of collapse.
Regulatory arbitrage and risk spillover: Low-threshold coin issuance platforms may engage in regulatory arbitrage, exacerbating market risks and spilling risks to the entire crypto industry.
The LIBRA incident and the chaos in the Meme coin market may indicate that the current Meme coin "rapid coin issuance-emotional speculation-rapid collapse" model is nearing its end, and the market is sliding towards the dilemma of Nash equilibrium:
Nash equilibrium state:In the current market, project parties pursue "quick harvesting", snipers wait for opportunities to "buy low and sell high", KOLs "pay to shout orders", CEXs "pursue profit and list coins", and retail investors "FOMO enter the market". All participants are pursuing their own interests in the zero-sum game of Meme coins, but the final result is the inefficiency, chaos and continuous loss of investor confidence in the entire market. Like the classic game theory model of Nash equilibrium, individual rational behavior leads to collective irrational results, and the market falls into a prisoner's dilemma.
Model unsustainability: The adverse impact of the LIBRA incident and the awakening of investor protection awareness make the Meme coin "harvesting" model unsustainable. Retail investors are no longer blindly FOMO, the credibility of KOLs has declined, CEXs may tighten the listing standards, and the "Meme coin myth of getting rich quickly" has gradually shattered.
The market urgently needs a new paradigm: The "Nash equilibrium" dilemma of the Meme coin market indicates that the market needs new innovations or paradigm changes to break the deadlock, rebuild investor confidence, and push the industry towards a healthier and more sustainable development track.
VII. Looking forward to a new dawn: healthy asset issuance and a new industry order
Although the LIBRA incident is a "labor pain" for the crypto industry, it may also breed new hope:
Short-term labor pains give rise to long-term demand: The LIBRA incident and other Meme coin chaos will hit investor confidence in the short term, but in the long run, it will prompt the market to reflect on the shortcomings of the existing model and force the industry to accelerate changes. Investors will have a more urgent demand for safer, more transparent and fairer asset issuance and trading models.
A new stage of healthy management of asset issuance: The era of "wild growth" of Meme coins may end, and the industry will enter a new stage of healthy management of asset issuance. The market will pay more attention to project quality, value support and long-term development, rather than short-term speculation and emotional harvesting.
The dawn of hope: The negative impact of the LIBRA incident may force the strengthening of supervision, promote industry self-discipline, accelerate investor education, promote technological innovation, and bring a ray of new hope to the crypto industry after the sinking of MEME coins, and breed a healthier and more sustainable development future.
The LIBRA incident is a mirror that reflects the various chaos and deep-seated problems in the current encrypted Meme coin market. From emotional confrontation, regulatory resistance, Web3 business model dilemma, PVP game and insider trading, to asset issuance evolution and market Nash equilibrium, the occurrence and evolution of the LIBRA incident sounded the alarm for us and provided profound inspiration for the healthy development of the industry in the future. Short-term pain is inevitable, but in the long run, this crisis may become a turning point for the crypto industry to mature and standardize, and a new dawn may come after the storm.
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