tl;dr
Hayden Davis, co-founder of the memecoin LIBRA, admits in an interview that the project used its own funds to "snipe" the token upon launch to gain an advantage. Sniping involves buying a newly launched coin before significant transactions or the entry of retail traders using trading bots or scripts...
Hayden Davis, co-founder of LIBRA, acknowledges that the project sniped its own memecoin on launch day to gain an advantage in the market. This involved using a dedicated treasury to buy up the token and front-run other investors, leading to a surge in market cap before a drastic devaluation. Davis claims that sniping was necessary for memecoin survival and to deter other snipers from getting in early.
Despite accusations of rug-pull and insider trading, Davis denies any wrongdoing and describes LIBRA as a "plan gone miserably wrong." He emphasizes that the team is holding $100 million worth of the project's funds.
Hayden Davis, the co-founder of memecoin LIBRA, disclosed in an interview that the project used its own funds to "snipe" the token upon launch to gain an advantage. Sniping involves buying a newly launched coin before significant transactions or the entry of retail traders using trading bots or scripts. Davis explains that sniping was done to deter others from getting in early and to increase the market cap for survival.
LIBRA, initially backed by Argentinian President Javier Milei, saw a market cap of over $4 billion on launch day before losing over 95% of its value. The project is now facing accusations of rug-pull and insider trading, but Davis denies any wrongdoing and describes LIBRA as a "plan gone miserably wrong." He also mentions that the team is holding $100 million worth of the project's funds.
One of the co-founders of the controversial memecoin LIBRA says the project itself “sniped” the token right after it rolled out. In crypto trading, sniping refers to the practice of using trading bots or scripts to buy a newly launched coin ahead of big transactions or the entry of retail traders. Snipers get their edge by buying early in anticipation of a massive spike in trading volume with the arrival of other investors.
Davis says teams behind memecoin launches often practice sniping “to deter” others from getting in early. He explains that memecoin projects need to snipe their own coins to increase the odds of survival by inflating the market cap to a level high enough that the market can absorb large sell orders from deep-pocketed investors. LIBRA, a crypto project initially backed by Argentinan President Javier Milei, surged to a market cap of over $4 billion on launch day before losing more than 95% of its value on the same day. Milei has since backtracked his support for the crypto asset.
The people behind the team, including Davis, are in hot water amid rug-pull and insider trading accusations. But Davis denies any wrongdoing and says LIBRA is a “plan gone miserably wrong.” He also says that the team is sitting on $100 million worth of the project’s money.