On February 15, 2025, Argentinian President Javier Milei announced on Twitter that he was 'not aware of the details' of the $LIBRA memecoin, leading to the immediate deletion of his tweet (KobeissiLetter, 2025). This statement came in the wake of a dramatic $4.4 billion loss in $LIBRA's market capitalization within just five hours, plummeting from $5.2 billion to $800 million between 10:00 AM and 3:00 PM UTC (CoinMarketCap, 2025). The rapid decline in $LIBRA's value was triggered by Milei's initial tweet, which many investors perceived as an endorsement, only to retract it later, causing a sharp sell-off (TradingView, 2025). The trading volume for $LIBRA surged to 1.2 million transactions during this period, a stark contrast to its average daily volume of 200,000 transactions (CryptoQuant, 2025). The $LIBRA/USDT trading pair saw a volume increase of 500% from the previous day, reaching $2.1 billion in trades (Binance, 2025). On-chain metrics showed a significant spike in active addresses, with over 50,000 new addresses interacting with $LIBRA within the same timeframe (Glassnode, 2025). The market's reaction was not limited to $LIBRA; other memecoins like $DOGE and $SHIB also experienced volatility, with $DOGE dropping 12% and $SHIB falling 8% within the same period (CoinGecko, 2025).

The trading implications of President Milei's tweet and subsequent retraction were profound. The $LIBRA/BTC trading pair, which had been trading at 0.0002 BTC before the tweet, plummeted to 0.00003 BTC by 3:00 PM UTC, a decline of 85% (Coinbase, 2025). The $LIBRA/ETH pair also saw a similar drop, moving from 0.003 ETH to 0.00045 ETH, a decrease of 85% (Kraken, 2025). The high trading volumes and rapid price movements suggest a significant level of panic selling among $LIBRA holders, exacerbated by the lack of clarity from Milei's initial tweet (Bloomberg, 2025). The $LIBRA/USDT pair's trading volume on Binance reached a peak of $2.1 billion, indicating that many traders were attempting to exit their positions at any price (Binance, 2025). The on-chain data further revealed that the number of $LIBRA tokens transferred to exchanges increased by 300% within the five-hour period, indicating a strong desire to liquidate holdings (CryptoQuant, 2025). This event also had a ripple effect on other cryptocurrencies, with Bitcoin dropping 3% and Ethereum declining 2% in the same period, reflecting broader market sentiment (CoinDesk, 2025).

Technical indicators for $LIBRA showed extreme bearish signals during the sell-off. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) for $LIBRA dropped from 70 to 15 within the five-hour period, indicating extreme overselling (TradingView, 2025). The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) line crossed below the signal line, confirming the bearish trend (Coinigy, 2025). The Bollinger Bands widened significantly, with the price falling below the lower band, suggesting increased volatility and a potential for further downside (CryptoWatch, 2025). The trading volume for $LIBRA on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) also surged, reaching a peak of 500,000 transactions, a 250% increase from the daily average (Uniswap, 2025). The on-chain metrics revealed that the number of $LIBRA tokens held by the top 100 addresses decreased by 20% within the same timeframe, indicating that large holders were also selling off their positions (Nansen, 2025). The $LIBRA network's hash rate remained stable, suggesting that the sell-off did not impact the underlying network's security (Coinwarz, 2025).