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One of the co-founders of the controversial memecoin LIBRA says the project itself \u201csniped\u201d the token right after it rolled out.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Snipers get their edge by buying early in anticipation of a massive spike in trading volume with the arrival of other investors.<\/p>\n
In a new interview on the voidzilla YouTube channel, LIBRA co-creator Hayden Davis says<\/a> he does not deny that wallets linked to the project sniped the memecoin on launch day.<\/p>\n According to Davis, LIBRA had a separate treasury dedicated to gobbling up the token and front-running other investors.<\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>That money that we consider \u2018sniping\u2019 is the project\u2019s money.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Davis says teams behind memecoin launches often practice sniping \u201cto deter\u201d others from getting in early.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom the standpoint of sniping, most of the time when we\u2019re sniping, we\u2019re attempting to avoid other snipers getting in.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n LIBRA, a crypto project initially backed<\/a> 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<\/a> his support for the crypto asset. The people behind the team, including Davis, are in hot water amid rug-pull and insider trading accusations.<\/p>\n But Davis denies any wrongdoing and says LIBRA is a \u201cplan gone miserably wrong.\u201d He also says that the team is sitting on $100 million worth of the project\u2019s money.<\/p>\n