Allegations of Multi-Billion Dollar Fund Misappropriation
Solana-based liquidity platform Meteora faces accusations of misappropriating $1.2 billion to $2 billion in customer funds, following an investigation by on-chain detective ZachXBT reviewed by COINBEURO. The alleged illicit activity, reportedly involving insider trading and direct theft, has led prediction market Polymarket to price Meteora as the primary suspect.
Meteora's Ecosystem Role and Investigative Context
Meteora, a liquidity provider on the Solana blockchain, facilitates the launch and trading of new tokens, including meme coins like $TRUMP and $MELANIA. Its role in the Solana ecosystem involved handling daily trading volumes exceeding $1.5 billion over a five-day period, primarily from meme coin activity.
On-chain detective ZachXBT, known for exposing fraudulent schemes and insider trading, spearheaded the investigation.
Investigation Timeline and Market Reaction
The allegations gained traction as ZachXBT's investigation neared release. A Polymarket prediction market, "Which crypto company will ZachXBT expose for insider trading?", saw $2.8 million in total trading volume, with $2 million traded in a single day. Initially, Meteora's odds of exposure ranged from 10% to 14% among several suspects. As information circulated, Meteora's odds on Polymarket surged to 46% and stabilized at 37% to 39% as the leading suspect, ahead of entities like Pumpfun (27%-39%) and MEXC (16%-17%).
A newly created Polymarket wallet placed a $5,891 bet on Meteora's implication. Concurrently, the same wallet deposited $11,500 $USDC into Hyperliquid and initiated a 3x leveraged short position on 186,435 $MET tokens, valued at approximately $33,000. This combination of a prediction market bet and a short position signaled strong conviction regarding the impending accusations and potential price depreciation of $MET.
In the 24 hours after peak speculative activity, $MET's price decreased by 10.2%, with a seven-day decline of 20.9%. Despite this bearish trend, the token recorded minor gains of 3.01% on Bybit and 2.27% on Coinbase within specific 15-minute intervals. Community sentiment surrounding Meteora was overwhelmingly negative, with an average sentiment score of approximately -55 across various discussions, indicating widespread concern.