The founder of the Solana-based Pump.fun has called for new guardrails to be applied to token launchpads amid the continued fallout over the LIBRA memecoin launch.
In a Feb. 18 post to X, pseudonymous Pump.fun founder alon said he was “disgusted” by the events surrounding the launch of the “insider scam” LIBRA memecoin — a token that Argentine President Javier Milei briefly shared — and some have accused as being an elaborate rug pull.
Source: a1lon
Launched on Feb. 15, LIBRA was shared by President Milei as the official token of the country of Argentina.
However, several wallets quickly siphoned off over $107 million in single-sided liquidity from the token’s liquidity pool while Milei deleted the tweet endorsing the token, leading to a $4.4 billion market cap wipeout in just six hours.
Source: Kobeissi Letter
However, Alon has defended his platform, arguing it was created as a mechanism to protect against insider-controlled token launches.
He has since called for token-launching platforms to provide guardrails to “ensure users are as safe as possible while meeting their demands.”
Related: Milei-endorsed Libra token was ‘open secret’ in memecoin circles — Jupiter
Alon said priorities should include educating users on how to safely and ethically create coins, making onboarding for new traders “friendlier,” and making users safer by reducing the visibility of tokens that display suspicious trading patterns or ownership structures.
Meteora co-founder steps down
Meanwhile, Ben Chow, the co-founder of Meteora, has reportedly resigned from his role at Meteora, according to a Feb. 18 post to X from fellow Meteora co-founder and Jupiter founder Meow.
Meow said the resignation was related to Chow’s “lack of judgment and care” over certain core aspects of the project over the last few months, without elaborating further.
Source: Meow
While some commentators have hurled accusations at Meteora’s team for conspiring with Hayden Davis at Kelsier Ventures — the man behind the LIBRA token — Meow claimed that no one from either Meteora or Jupiter had been involved in any wrongdoing:
“I’d like to reiterate my confidence that no one at Jupiter or Meteora committed any insider trading or financial wrongdoing, or received any tokens inappropriately.”
In an earlier Feb. 17 statement on X, Chow also denied any insider activity at Meteora surrounding the launch of LIBRA.
Chow said neither he nor the Meteora team ever receive or manage tokens “on the side” nor do they receive knowledge concerning “off-chain dealings.”
“To maintain the high levels of confidentiality, very few people in Meteora have access to any launch information,” said Chow.
“Neither I nor the Meteora team compromised the $LIBRA launch by leaking information, nor did we purchase, receive, or manage any tokens.”
He said there was “nothing exclusive or unique” about the relationship between Meteora and LIBRA deployer Davis.
Following the LIBRA scandal, Meow also announced that he would be hiring Fenwick and West law firm — currently facing a lawsuit over claims it was “directly involved” in helping FTX blur its relationship with Alameda Research in 2022 — to investigate the situation and publish an independent report.
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