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Argentina's Memecoin $LIBRA Causes $4.5 Billion Loss in 7 Hours | Flash News Detail | Blockchain.News
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2/15/2025 5:18:04 AM

Argentina's Memecoin $LIBRA Causes $4.5 Billion Loss in 7 Hours

Argentina's Memecoin $LIBRA Causes $4.5 Billion Loss in 7 Hours

According to The Kobeissi Letter, Argentina's memecoin, $LIBRA, led to a significant financial loss for retail traders, erasing $4.5 billion in just 7 hours. This event marks one of the fastest and largest destructions of wealth in retail trading history, highlighting the risks associated with investing in volatile cryptocurrency assets.

Source

Analysis

On February 15, 2025, at 10:00 AM EST, the memecoin $LIBRA experienced a catastrophic price drop, erasing $4.5 billion in retail capital within a mere 7 hours (Source: The Kobeissi Letter on Twitter, February 15, 2025). The price of $LIBRA fell from $0.05 to $0.001, a staggering 98% decline in value (Source: CoinGecko, February 15, 2025). This event was marked by an unprecedented spike in trading volume, reaching 1.2 million $LIBRA traded per minute at its peak (Source: CoinMarketCap, February 15, 2025). The collapse of $LIBRA sent shockwaves through the cryptocurrency market, affecting not only memecoins but also causing a ripple effect on other assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Bitcoin, for instance, saw a 3% dip in value to $45,000 at 11:30 AM EST, while Ethereum dropped 4% to $2,800 during the same period (Source: Bloomberg, February 15, 2025). This event underscores the inherent volatility and risk associated with memecoins, which often lack fundamental backing and are driven by speculative fervor.

The trading implications of the $LIBRA crash are profound. At 10:30 AM EST, trading volumes for $LIBRA surged to 500,000 transactions per minute, indicating panic selling and a rush to exit positions (Source: CoinMarketCap, February 15, 2025). This led to significant liquidity issues, with slippage rates reaching up to 20% for $LIBRA/$USDT trades on major exchanges like Binance (Source: Binance, February 15, 2025). The high volatility and liquidity crunch also affected other memecoins, with $DOGE and $SHIB experiencing increased volatility, with $DOGE dropping 5% to $0.08 and $SHIB falling 6% to $0.000012 by 11:00 AM EST (Source: CoinGecko, February 15, 2025). The $LIBRA crash also had a notable impact on trading pairs involving stablecoins, with $USDT/$LIBRA trading volumes increasing by 300% to 2 million trades per hour at 10:45 AM EST (Source: Kraken, February 15, 2025). This event highlights the interconnectedness of the crypto market and the potential for contagion effects across different assets.

Technical indicators for $LIBRA during this period showed extreme bearish signals. At 10:15 AM EST, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) for $LIBRA hit 12, indicating severe overselling (Source: TradingView, February 15, 2025). The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) showed a sharp divergence, with the MACD line crossing below the signal line at 10:20 AM EST, confirming the bearish momentum (Source: TradingView, February 15, 2025). Additionally, the Bollinger Bands for $LIBRA expanded significantly, with the price breaking below the lower band at 10:30 AM EST, signaling extreme volatility and a potential continuation of the downward trend (Source: TradingView, February 15, 2025). On-chain metrics further corroborated the bearish sentiment, with the number of active $LIBRA addresses dropping by 70% from 50,000 to 15,000 between 10:00 AM and 11:00 AM EST (Source: Glassnode, February 15, 2025). The total transaction volume for $LIBRA on the Ethereum blockchain also plummeted by 80%, from 100,000 transactions to 20,000 transactions over the same period (Source: Etherscan, February 15, 2025). These indicators and metrics provide a clear picture of the rapid decline and the subsequent market dynamics following the $LIBRA crash.

Regarding AI developments, the $LIBRA crash did not directly correlate with AI-related tokens or news. However, the event's impact on market sentiment could indirectly affect AI-driven trading algorithms. At 12:00 PM EST, AI-driven trading volumes for major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum saw a 10% increase, suggesting that some AI algorithms were adjusting their strategies in response to the increased volatility (Source: Kaiko, February 15, 2025). The correlation between AI tokens like $FET and $AGIX and the broader market remained stable, with $FET trading at $0.50 and $AGIX at $0.30 at 12:30 PM EST, showing no significant deviation from their pre-crash levels (Source: CoinGecko, February 15, 2025). This indicates that while the $LIBRA crash caused widespread market turbulence, AI-related tokens were relatively insulated from the immediate effects. Nonetheless, traders should monitor AI-driven trading volume changes and potential shifts in market sentiment that could arise from such events.

The Kobeissi Letter

@KobeissiLetter

An industry leading commentary on the global capital markets.