Ben Chow, co-founder of Meteora—the Solana-based platform behind the controversial Trump and Melania token launches—has resigned following insider trading allegations that have surfaced after the collapse of LIBRA token, a crypto initially backed by Argentine President Javier Milei whose value plummeted over 90% within hours of its launch.
Meow, the pseudonymous co-founder of both Meteora and Jupiter exchange, confirmed in a tweet on Monday that Ben’s resignation came following his lack of judgment as a project lead in the past few months.
Neither Chow nor Meow have responded to Decrypt’s requests for comment.
The LIBRA token’s collapse has cranked up insider trading accusations, with on-chain analysts pointing to suspicious wallet activity and the possible involvement of insiders dumping tokens at the asset’s price peak.
Amid the allegations, platforms such as Meteora, which provided technical support for the token launch, got caught in the crossfire.
With the firm now seeking new leadership, Chow’s exit has raised questions about the ethics surrounding high-profile token launches and their far-reaching impact on crypto.
In the wake of the allegations, Meow clarified his companies’ stance, noting neither Jupiter nor Meteora were involved in insider trading or financial misconduct.
Jupiter has previously acknowledged while the launch of an “Argentina Coin” had been “an open secret” within meme coin circles, no one at Jupiter knew the specifics in advance.
Meteora had been reportedly operating independently of Jupiter for over a year, with Ben running the firm without significant involvement from Meow.
Chow has not yet released an official statement, but he previously addressed the controversy on X, offering his side of the story.
In a series of tweets on Saturday, he initially explained that Meteora’s involvement in the LIBRA launch was limited to providing technical support.
“The $LIBRA team used Meteora, which is a permission-less platform,” the Meteora co-founder tweeted. “We never had any access to the tokens or to Milei.”
He clarified Meteora did not play a role in the launch decision-making or market-making activities, as the platform allows anyone to create pools and tokens without direct involvement from the Meteora team.
However, Ben later backtracked on his initial tweet, acknowledging that questions had arisen regarding Meteora’s role in the launch of LIBRA and other tokens.
Chow explained his relationship with Hayden Davis of Kelsier Ventures, who was involved in the launch of the LIBRA, TRUMP, and MELANIA meme coins.
“I referred them [Hayden Davis] to a handful of other projects that had inquired with us about deployer firms, which included the team behind $MELANIA,” Ben wrote.
He reportedly referred Kelsier Ventures to other projects and said that their relationship was built on mutual trust developed during the successful launch of the M3M3 token in December.
In response to community backlash, Meow announced plans for an independent third-party investigation. They are seeking to hire California-based law firm Fenwick & West to handle the allegations and promote transparency.
Chow’s resignation has been met with mixed reactions, with some support from figures such as Kash Dhandha, a founding member of Super Team DAO and a ‘Cat Herder’ at Jupiter, who defended him as a victim of “strategic mistakes” rather than misconduct.
LIBRA saw its market cap surge to $4 billion before plummeting by 91%, fueling suspicions of market manipulation.
The fallout from LIBRA continues to shadow Milei, who now faces impeachment calls and legal action accusing him of fraud over his promotion of the token.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
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