Jupiter To Bring in External Investigator Following Chow’s Resignation

As shocking revelations surrounding the Kelsier scandal continue to emerge, Jupiter co-founder Meow has finally given his eagerly awaited statement on the DeFi superapp’s path forward.

While Meteora co-founder Ben Chow faces backlash for referring multiple memecoin projects to Kelsier CEO Hayden Davis as a launch advisor, Jupiter has doubled down on its commitment to transparency.

Jupiter Dissuaded From Chosen Investigator

In a statement, Jupiter co-founder Meow responded to widespread allegations of market manipulation involving Kelsier Ventures and Meteora’s M3M3 launchpad. 

Despite acknowledging concerning behavior and suspicious wallet activity permeating the launches, Meteora co-founder Ben Chow continued to refer inbound memecoin projects to Hayden Davis.

While Meow has declared his support for Chow and asserts “there was no financial inappropriateness”, the Jupiter co-founder admitted that Chow’s ongoing relationship with Davis showed a lack of judgment. Ben Chow will officially step down from his role at Meteora.

Reinforcing Jupiter’s commitment to transparency, Meow announced that the protocol would hire an external 3rd party investigator to audit the Jupiter team. Originally, Jupiter invited “one of the most reputable law firms in the world”, Fenwick & West, to handle the investigation.

Meow and the Jupiter team have since reversed that decision. Social media commentators wasted no time reminding Meow that Fenwick & West was reportedly responsible for obfuscating ties between FTX and its sister company, Alameda Research, which defrauded customers of $8B in 2022.

Meow and the Jupiter team have taken community feedback on board, and are exploring alternative options for the external investigation.

Solana KOLs Respond to 'Insider' Allegations

While Jupiter attempts to bring greater clarity to events, Solana’s KOLs and influencers aren’t doing themselves any favors. Dozens of influencers have shared that they were made aware of the $LIBRA launch ahead of its public announcement, potentially implicating themselves for market manipulation and trading on private knowledge.

A recently released video conversation between DefiTuna’s Moty Povolotsky and Meteora’s Ben Chow suggests that “everyone and their mother knew about it.”

Threadguy, one of Solana’s most popular KOLs, has released a video defending his name amidst the $LIBRA crisis. Threadguy asserted that he has never accepted tokens from memecoin projects in exchange for promotion, and invited anyone with evidence incriminating him to come forward.

Meanwhile, other KOLs are redefining access to ‘insider information’ as a ‘skill issue’. Jakey argues that networking and maintaining a presence in crypto circles during the bear market allows traders to ‘position themselves’ for ‘opportunities’.

Jakey’s stance is supported by a controversial statement made by Frank. In a now-deleted tweet, Frank posited “if you’ve been in crypto for more than 4 years and you’re not somewhat of an insider you need to rethink your strategy.”

Attention Swings Back to Genuine Products

The Kelsier launches have undeniably had a devastating impact on Solana’s onchain economy, extracting hundreds of millions of dollars from traders.

Exhausted by the memecoin circus, network participants now eagerly await an attention shift back to genuine products. 

Drift Protocol co-founder Cindy Leow has implored the Solana community to “return to fundamentals” and focus on the right things— principles, fundamentals, and integrity.

Read More on SolanaFloor:

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