How a president's tweet turned $LIBRA into a $4.5 billion rug in one hour

On the evening of February 14, 2025, Argentine President Javier Milei posted a Solana contract address to his millions of followers on X, praising a token called $LIBRA as a way to fund small businesses and startups. According to DL News, the token had gone live on the decentralized exchange Meteora at 7:00 pm; Milei's endorsement landed roughly one minute later.

The reaction was immediate. Within about an hour, some 44,000 wallet addresses had bought in and the token's notional market value touched roughly $4.5 billion, DL News reported from on-chain data, making it briefly one of the largest tokens on Solana. By 10:45 pm the price had fallen about 97%.

A pool built to be drained

The collapse was not merely a case of hype outrunning fundamentals. Analysts say $LIBRA was seeded with 'one-sided' liquidity — a structure that leaves buy orders visible while concealing how easily insiders can sell into them. Blockchain analytics firm Galaxy Research estimated that insiders cashed out almost $100 million as retail buyers piled in, per DL News.

The launch has been tied to Hayden Davis, described by DL News as an adviser to Milei and the chief executive of Kelsier Ventures. In the hours after the crash, Davis publicly claimed to be holding roughly $100 million while he decided how to 'distribute' it — an admission that did little to comfort the tens of thousands of wallets left underwater.

Milei deleted his post within hours, writing that he 'wasn't aware of the project's details,' according to DL News. He later denied wrongdoing, insisting he had shared the token rather than promoted it. A federal judge was assigned to the case and Argentina's Anti-Corruption Office was ordered to open a probe.

Red flags a big megaphone can't hide

• A sudden endorsement from a celebrity or official, paired with a brand-new contract address, is a launch tactic — not a substitute for due diligence.
• 'One-sided' or shallow liquidity lets insiders sell into your buys; check that liquidity is deep, two-sided and locked before touching a new token.
• Watch supply concentration: if a few addresses hold most of the tokens, the float you buy can be dumped on you within seconds.
• Treat 'I'm holding the funds until I decide how to distribute them' as a confession, not a roadmap.

The government weathered the immediate political storm, but the inquiries have not closed. For readers, the takeaway is unforgiving: the size of the megaphone tells you nothing about the safety of the token behind it, and a screenshot of a contract address is an invitation, not an endorsement.

— Sources: [DL News](https://www.dlnews.com/articles/markets/how-did-milei-libra-memecoin-crash/)