Meteora Co-Founder Ben Chow Steps Down After LIBRA Token Controversy

The controversy stems from the LIBRA token’s decline—once linked to Argentine President Javier Milei, it lost over 90% of its value within hours of launch.

While Meteora’s role in the launch was limited to technical support, its involvement has raised concerns over the ethics of token launches.

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Meow, the pseudonymous co-founder of Meteora and the Jupiter exchange, confirmed Chow’s resignation on February 17, citing poor decision-making in recent months.

In response to the backlash, Meow emphasized that neither the company engaged in insider trading nor any financial misconduct. He also clarified that while talk of an “Argentina Coin” circulated in meme coin communities, Jupiter had no prior knowledge of its exact launch details.

Chow has not issued an official statement about his departure. However, he previously addressed the situation on X. Initially, he downplayed Meteora’s role, stating the platform merely provided a permissionless service that anyone could use.

He stated, “The LIBRA team used Meteora, which is a permission-less platform. We never had any access to the tokens or to Milei”. He also stressed that Meteora does not participate in decision-making for token launches.

Later, he revised his response, admitting there were valid concerns about Meteora’s involvement with LIBRA and similar projects. He also acknowledged his connection to Hayden Davis of Kelsier Ventures, a firm tied to the launches of the LIBRA, TRUMP, and MELANIA meme coins.

Meanwhile, Benjamin DeKraker, an xAI engineer, recently announced his resignation from the company. Why? Read the full story.