On-chain data revealed suspicious transactions on wallets linked to MELANIA and LIBRA insider teams. The Trump-related team allegedly spent $2.76 million to buy POPE and then sold it at a $2.73 million loss. The loss was then funneled to other wallets, signaling financial misconduct.
On-chain data identified suspicious transactions in wallets linked to MELANIA and LIBRA insider teams. The data revealed that the wallets transferred SOL to a common wallet, Cbhv3FmuB4, and spent $2.76 million to buy POPE.
On-chain data revealed that the insiders spent 19,846 SOL to purchase the POPE meme coin and sold it for $24,000, a loss of over $2 million at 14:20 UTC. An address linked to LIBRA’s insider, BxuHwfJdUc, transferred 5000 SOL to a wallet, Cbhv3FmuB4.
It seems that the $LIBRA and $MELANIA insider team is laundering funds.
They spent 19,846 $SOL($2.76M) to buy a memecoin(POPE) with a market cap of less than $150K, and sold it for 175 $SOL($24K), losing $2.73M!
That $2.73M was effectively funneled to other wallets in a "legal"… pic.twitter.com/ACDC0EDcjx
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) February 26, 2025
Numerous MELANIA insider wallets also transferred 7000 SOL to the same wallet. Another LIBRA insider-linked wallet also transferred 6000 SOL to the wallet within the same time frame.
The wallet then liquidated the accumulated SOL worth $2.76 million to purchase and liquidate the memecoin. The $2.73 million was then allocated to other wallets in a “legal” manner.
On-chain data revealed an increase in MELANIA’s and LIBRA’s large transactions, with transactions over $100,000 rising by 400% to 350%, respectively. The increased trading volumes indicated investors moved their assets in response to the laundering allegations.
Blockchain data analysis company Bubblemaps revealed that the teams behind the LIBRA and MELANIA tokens were the same individuals. The company added that the teams had profited over $100 million through “sniper trading” and liquidity withdrawal.
Bubblemaps revealed that the same network of insiders was also linked to other pump-and-dump projects, such as VIBES, KACY, and TRUST. Further tracking revealed that OxcEA, an address that played a role in $MELANIA, profited $6 million from $LIBRA. The company added the address and used multiple wallets to hide the transactions.
On January 30, Argentine President Milley promoted the Libra on his social media page after its launch. He described the coin as a promising opportunity for investors to support small and mid-sized businesses in Argentina. Milley’s endorsement caused a frenzy around the meme coin. The token’s value rose to approximately $5 per token with a market cap of over $4 billion in an hour.
After the launch, the team behind the project withdrew $87 million of USDC and SOL from its liquidity pool, which led to the token’s price plummeting by over 80%. The president deleted his tweet and launched an investigation into the coin. He added the anti-corruption office would investigate whether any national government member engaged in improper conduct.
Milley later announced that he was unaware of the project details, and after he became aware of them, he decided not to spread the coin. Shortly after Milei’s announcement, critics called for investigations. They also suggested he should be impeached for facilitating fraud.
KIP Protocol and Kelsier Ventures denied blame for the LIBRA fiasco. KIP Protocol’s CEO, Julian Peh, stated that the protocol had no control over the token launch. The token’s market maker, Kelsier Ventures, argued external forces were responsible for the collapse.
In January, MELANIA token endorsed by US First Lady, Melania Trump, recorded a total market value of over $10 billion shortly after its launch. However, it’s market value dropped a few hours later, with its market value plummeting to less than $2 billion.
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