Class Action Lawsuit Targets Meteora Founder
Decrypt reports that Meteora founder Benjamin Chow is facing a class action lawsuit accusing him of orchestrating a cryptocurrency scam and illicitly using the likenesses of former U.S. First Lady Melania Trump and Argentine President Javier Milei to market the so-called “scam tokens” MELANIA and LIBRA. After launch, these tokens saw prices spike rapidly before plunging sharply. Court documents allege Chow worked with Hayden Davis and Kelsier Ventures to manipulate the markets for at least 15 different tokens. The court has already unfrozen $57.6 million in USDC linked to the LIBRA token, while remaining cautious about the lawsuit’s prospects.
Meteora Project Overview
Meteora is a next-generation DeFi protocol backed by YZi Labs and IDG Capital, designed to deliver efficient, composable, and sustainable liquidity infrastructure on the Solana blockchain. After rebranding from Mercurial Finance to Meteora in 2023, the project quickly became a core liquidity provider for major Solana aggregators like Jupiter Swap, driving dynamic capital movement throughout the ecosystem.
Tokenomics
Meteora uses a distinctive Liquidity Allocation mechanism instead of a traditional airdrop. Recipients are granted liquidity positions in the MET/SOL pool rather than direct token allocations, allowing them to earn trading fees while reducing sell pressure. Total supply: 1,000,000,000 MET; initial circulating supply: 48% (480,000,000), allocated as follows:
Immediate Circulation (48%)
- Legacy stakeholders: 20%
- User and liquidity provider rewards: 15%
- Jupiter ecosystem stakers: 3%
- Launchpad & Launchpool: 3%
- Advisors and off-chain contributors: 2%
- M3M3 participants: 2%
- Centralized Exchange (CEX) liquidity and market-making support: 3%
Long-Term Lockup (52%, Six-Year Linear Release)
- Core team: 18%
- Treasury and reserves: 34%
This structure underscores long-term commitment and community focus. Extended lockups for team and investor tokens ensure ongoing development and alignment with community interests.
Token Utility
MET is the primary token of the Meteora ecosystem, serving several key functions:
- Governance: Holders can participate in protocol governance, setting protocol fees, and product proposals.
- Liquidity incentives: Providing liquidity or joining Vaults earns MET rewards.
- Fee distribution: Part of protocol revenue is used to buy back MET and distribute it to stakers.
- Ecosystem support: Facilitates new project launches and partner incentive programs.
MET Listing Schedule
(Source: MeteoraAG)
Official Meteora announcement:
- Token Generation Event (TGE): October 23, 2025, 1:00 PM UTC
- Trading, claiming, and fee earnings: All begin simultaneously
- Exchange listing: One hour after TGE (2:00 PM UTC)
- Liquidity Distributor NFT holders can begin receiving fee earnings immediately, without having to claim tokens first.
For more information about Web3, register at: https://www.gate.com/
Summary
As a flagship DeFi infrastructure project on Solana, Meteora demonstrates a long-term, community-focused strategy in liquidity design, tokenomics, and ecosystem development. The recent class action against founder Benjamin Chow reminds investors that, despite technological advancement and ecosystem activity, legal and market risks remain. For participants, understanding the token distribution, liquidity mechanisms, and operating model—and exercising sound judgment—is vital to protecting their interests. With the MET token listing approaching, heightened market interest and trading activity may present opportunities, but also carry significant volatility risks.
