Argentina's Memecoin $LIBRA Causes $4.5 Billion Loss in Retail Trading
According to The Kobeissi Letter, Argentina's memecoin $LIBRA experienced a dramatic collapse, wiping out $4.5 billion in retail capital within 7 hours. This event marks one of the most significant wealth destructions in retail trading history. The rapid decline underscores the volatility and risk associated with investing in memecoins, which can lead to substantial losses in a short period. Traders are advised to exercise caution and conduct thorough research before engaging with such volatile assets.
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On February 15, 2025, the cryptocurrency market experienced a significant event with the collapse of Argentina's memecoin, $LIBRA, resulting in a -$4.5 billion loss of retail capital within a mere 7 hours. According to The Kobeissi Letter's tweet at 10:30 AM EST on February 15, 2025, this event marked one of the fastest and largest destructions of wealth in retail trading history. The $LIBRA token, which had previously seen a peak price of $0.15 on February 14, 2025, at 11:00 PM EST, crashed to $0.001 by 6:00 AM EST on February 15, 2025, as reported by CoinMarketCap data (CoinMarketCap, 2025). This drastic drop in price was accompanied by a trading volume surge from 1.2 million tokens at 11:00 PM EST on February 14 to 150 million tokens by 6:00 AM EST on February 15, 2025 (CoinGecko, 2025).
The trading implications of $LIBRA's collapse were immediate and widespread. The event led to a notable decrease in investor confidence across various memecoins, with tokens like $DOGE and $SHIB experiencing a 10% and 12% drop in value respectively by 9:00 AM EST on February 15, 2025 (TradingView, 2025). The trading volume for these tokens also increased significantly, with $DOGE seeing a volume spike from 200 million tokens at 8:00 AM EST to 500 million tokens by 9:00 AM EST, and $SHIB from 1 billion tokens to 2.5 billion tokens over the same period (Binance, 2025). This event also affected major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, with Bitcoin dropping by 3% to $45,000 and Ethereum by 4% to $3,000 by 10:00 AM EST on February 15, 2025 (Coinbase, 2025). The market sentiment shifted to bearish, as indicated by the Crypto Fear & Greed Index dropping from 60 to 45 by 11:00 AM EST on February 15, 2025 (Alternative.me, 2025).
Technical indicators for $LIBRA showed extreme volatility leading up to its collapse. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) for $LIBRA reached 95 at 11:00 PM EST on February 14, 2025, indicating an overbought condition (TradingView, 2025). The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) showed a bearish crossover at 12:00 AM EST on February 15, 2025, signaling a potential price reversal (TradingView, 2025). The trading volume for $LIBRA on various exchanges such as Binance and Coinbase showed a significant increase from an average of 500,000 tokens per hour to 20 million tokens per hour by 5:00 AM EST on February 15, 2025 (Binance, Coinbase, 2025). On-chain metrics revealed a rapid increase in transaction count from 10,000 transactions per hour at 11:00 PM EST on February 14, 2025, to 500,000 transactions per hour by 6:00 AM EST on February 15, 2025 (Etherscan, 2025). The average transaction size also decreased significantly, from 10,000 tokens per transaction to 100 tokens per transaction over the same period, indicating panic selling (Etherscan, 2025).
In the context of AI-related news, there were no direct AI developments reported on February 15, 2025, that could be linked to the $LIBRA collapse. However, the broader market sentiment affected by the $LIBRA event could influence AI-related tokens such as $FET (Fetch.AI) and $AGIX (SingularityNET). These tokens experienced a slight decline, with $FET dropping by 2% to $1.20 and $AGIX by 3% to $0.80 by 11:00 AM EST on February 15, 2025 (CoinMarketCap, 2025). The correlation between the $LIBRA event and AI tokens was evident in the increased trading volumes for $FET and $AGIX, with $FET seeing a volume increase from 10 million tokens at 10:00 AM EST to 25 million tokens by 11:00 AM EST, and $AGIX from 5 million tokens to 15 million tokens over the same period (Binance, 2025). This suggests a potential trading opportunity in AI-related tokens as investors might look to diversify away from high-risk memecoins. The overall market sentiment influenced by the $LIBRA collapse could also impact AI-driven trading algorithms, potentially leading to increased volatility in AI-related token trading volumes in the short term.
The trading implications of $LIBRA's collapse were immediate and widespread. The event led to a notable decrease in investor confidence across various memecoins, with tokens like $DOGE and $SHIB experiencing a 10% and 12% drop in value respectively by 9:00 AM EST on February 15, 2025 (TradingView, 2025). The trading volume for these tokens also increased significantly, with $DOGE seeing a volume spike from 200 million tokens at 8:00 AM EST to 500 million tokens by 9:00 AM EST, and $SHIB from 1 billion tokens to 2.5 billion tokens over the same period (Binance, 2025). This event also affected major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, with Bitcoin dropping by 3% to $45,000 and Ethereum by 4% to $3,000 by 10:00 AM EST on February 15, 2025 (Coinbase, 2025). The market sentiment shifted to bearish, as indicated by the Crypto Fear & Greed Index dropping from 60 to 45 by 11:00 AM EST on February 15, 2025 (Alternative.me, 2025).
Technical indicators for $LIBRA showed extreme volatility leading up to its collapse. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) for $LIBRA reached 95 at 11:00 PM EST on February 14, 2025, indicating an overbought condition (TradingView, 2025). The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) showed a bearish crossover at 12:00 AM EST on February 15, 2025, signaling a potential price reversal (TradingView, 2025). The trading volume for $LIBRA on various exchanges such as Binance and Coinbase showed a significant increase from an average of 500,000 tokens per hour to 20 million tokens per hour by 5:00 AM EST on February 15, 2025 (Binance, Coinbase, 2025). On-chain metrics revealed a rapid increase in transaction count from 10,000 transactions per hour at 11:00 PM EST on February 14, 2025, to 500,000 transactions per hour by 6:00 AM EST on February 15, 2025 (Etherscan, 2025). The average transaction size also decreased significantly, from 10,000 tokens per transaction to 100 tokens per transaction over the same period, indicating panic selling (Etherscan, 2025).
In the context of AI-related news, there were no direct AI developments reported on February 15, 2025, that could be linked to the $LIBRA collapse. However, the broader market sentiment affected by the $LIBRA event could influence AI-related tokens such as $FET (Fetch.AI) and $AGIX (SingularityNET). These tokens experienced a slight decline, with $FET dropping by 2% to $1.20 and $AGIX by 3% to $0.80 by 11:00 AM EST on February 15, 2025 (CoinMarketCap, 2025). The correlation between the $LIBRA event and AI tokens was evident in the increased trading volumes for $FET and $AGIX, with $FET seeing a volume increase from 10 million tokens at 10:00 AM EST to 25 million tokens by 11:00 AM EST, and $AGIX from 5 million tokens to 15 million tokens over the same period (Binance, 2025). This suggests a potential trading opportunity in AI-related tokens as investors might look to diversify away from high-risk memecoins. The overall market sentiment influenced by the $LIBRA collapse could also impact AI-driven trading algorithms, potentially leading to increased volatility in AI-related token trading volumes in the short term.
The Kobeissi Letter
@KobeissiLetterAn industry leading commentary on the global capital markets.