Market Vybe #5
Everything you need to know about the LIBRA scandal
👉Weekly Recap
When Argentine President Javier Milei unveiled his own memecoin, LIBRA, the crypto community collectively groaned at the prospect of yet another extractive token. What followed, however, was an unmasking of the memecoin cabal—a revelation that sent shockwaves throughout the crypto community.
Within an hour of launch, LIBRA rocketed to a $4.5 billion market cap before insiders and snipers nuked the chart by selling over $100 million worth of tokens.
Upon seeing this disaster, Milei quickly backpedaled, deleting his initial tweet and posted a new message claiming he had no ties to the project and was not aware of the details..
Here’s where things start to get strange.
Amid the chaos, Kip Protocol, an AI crypto project that has nothing to do with memecoins, not only claimed responsibility for launching LIBRA but also had the audacity to label it a 'success.'
Obviously, this did not go over well.
While KIP Protocol may have been the architects behind the LIBRA initiative, the token creation and launch was actually handled by a third party, Kelsier Ventures.
If you’ve never heard of Kelsier Ventures, you’re not alone.
It’s led by Hayden Davis, a self-described “launch strategist” (and former D1 Soccer player), who took it upon himself to record a video, asking the community what to do with the $110M that his team received from selling tokens and removing liquidity.
Surprisingly, Hayden agreed to an interview with Coffeezilla, and what emerged was nothing short of shocking. It’s rare for someone to so willingly—and repeatedly—incriminate themselves purely for your entertainment.
Here’s a quick summary:
Hayden is sitting on $110M, he is unsure what to do with it
Kelsier is also the team behind $MELANIA, another PnD
Admits to sniping their own launches, doesn’t think its unethical either
Reimbursed insider KOL Dave Portnoy for $5M after he got wrecked on $LIBRA
Claims insiders bought $TRUMP at a $500M market cap PRE-launch
Now here’s where $#*& gets even crazier.
Evidence points to direct involvement from the Meteora team. Ben Chow, the head of Meteora, admitted to referring Kelsier Ventures to projects like $MELANIA.
The nail in the coffin was when Solana Floor posted a recorded conversation between and DeFi Tuna Founder @CavemanDhirk and Ben Chow.
It corroborates evidence that Ben was involved with Kelsier Ventures and may have been aware they were sniping their own launches. It’s estimated that the cabal extracted over $200 million across dozens of launches that were often the “daily runners.” At the 22:10 mark, CavemanDhirk says that Hayden told him “If Ben ever turns against us, we have enough to pin on him.”
This might have been enough to spook Ben, because on February 17th, he chose to resign from Meteora.
The cofounder of Jupiter, known as @wearemeow, appears to be in crisis mode as well. He announced on Twitter that they plan to hire an independent law firm to conduct a full investigation—conveniently, the same firm used by FTX.
With the two largest and most popular dApps on Solana facing significant FUD, it’s no surprise that SOL’s price dipped to $160.
P.S. allegedly Hayden’s IN with Javier Milei, is that he was sleeping with Javier’s sister. But we’re trying really hard not to become the TMZ of crypto…
👉 Alpha of the Week
Despite the recent FUD, we remain optimistic that time will heal this situation. The Libra memecoin laid bare the extent to which the game can be rigged, highlighting how those with privileged access were able to manipulate prices and extract value.
We believe this will result in more ‘checks in place’ to prevent future disasters like Libra.
Meanwhile, the products offered by Jupiter and Meteora remain too compelling to ignore. We hope that retail investors will shift their focus away from memecoins and towards tokens that are genuinely building valuable solutions and delivering tangible benefits to their holders.
Here are a few top tier Solana projects (with utility) that are worth researching:
$JTO - Jito is a liquid staking protocol on Solana that allows users to stake their SOL tokens and receive JitoSOL in return, which can be used across various DeFi applications while earning staking rewards.
$KMNO - Kamino is a DeFi platform on Solana focused on providing yield farming opportunities, enabling users to amplify their returns through strategic token lending and borrowing.
GFM - Go Fund Meme (GFM) is a launchpad designed to crowdfund new meme coins. GFM stakers earn all the fees generated from the platform.
👉 Vybe Announcements
Vybe Validator has now transitioned to the Firedancer client on testnet!
Vybe plans to become one of the top validators on Solana running the firedancer client, with a high-performance validator that offers reliability and high yields to SOL stakers.
This is part of a larger plan to roll out an innovative business model that aligns users, ecosystem projects with Solana – The Stake 2 Access model.
The Stake 2 Access model allows users to stake SOL with the Vybe validator that not only provides high yield to users, but also unlocks access to premium features on the Vybe app. Instead of charging users a subscription fee for premium features, users get access entirely for free by staking with our validator, while Vybe generates revenue from the validator side.
We believe this model creates a win-win-win for users, protocols and Solana. More details coming soon - stay tuned & follow us on Twitter / X.
