Ben Chow, co-founder of DeFi platform Meteora, has resigned amid controversy surrounding the Libra memecoin. The news was announced on February 17 by Meow, the pseudonymous founder of Solana DEX Jupiter and Meteora.

Meow expressed confidence in Chow's character but criticized his judgment as project leader.

"While I trust Ben as a person, he has demonstrated poor judgment in some key aspects of the project," Meow said on the X platform. He confirmed that Chow has resigned and Meteora will look for a new leadership team.

The Libra memecoin sparked controversy after it was promoted by Argentine President Javier Milley on Friday, who claimed it would help the country’s economy. The price of Libra soared to billions but quickly collapsed when Milley withdrew his support. The Libra team used Meteora’s platform to create a liquidity pool for the token.

Kelsier Ventures CEO accused of insider trading in Libra memecoin launch

In an interview with YouTuber Coffeezilla, Hayden Davis, CEO of Kelsier Ventures, claimed that the Libra team engaged in insider trading by purchasing its own tokens during the launch. Davis, who previously worked on Melania Trump’s MELANIA token project, said that taking advantage of insider information before the memecoin launched was a common practice.

Meanwhile, Chow denied any insider activity related to Libra. He clarified that neither he nor Meteora received tokens or had special access to the project. Chow said their only involvement was providing IT support and they had never leaked information or purchased Libra tokens.

Chow admitted to introducing multiple projects to Davis and Kelsier Ventures as token launch partners, including the MELANIA token. He expressed trust in Davis and wanted to use Kelsier Ventures as a case study for Meteora’s memecoin platform M3M3.

Leaked video shows Chow expressing regret over relationship with Kelsier Ventures

On February 18, a video surfaced showing a conversation between Chow and DeFiTuna founder Dhirk. In the recording, Dhirk accused Kelsier Ventures of insider trading during the memecoin launch. He claimed to have witnessed this behavior during a visit to Barcelona and met with Kelsier President Dr. Tom Davis.

In the video, Chow denied any involvement but appeared concerned. "I feel sick because I introduced him to Melania. I screwed up. I pushed someone I shouldn't have supported," Chow said, suggesting his resignation was due to poor judgment on his part.

Despite Chow’s resignation, Meow stood by his claims of no financial misconduct. Meow assured that neither Meteora nor Jupiter were involved in insider trading. He also announced that Meteora would hire an independent third party to thoroughly investigate the matter.