Crypto Advisor Holds $100M from Failed Argentine Presidential Meme Coin

TLDR

• Hayden Davis, CEO of Kelsier, claims to be maintaining $100M from failed LIBRA token starting up endorsed by Argentine President Milei
• LIBRA token crashed from $4B market cap after Milei promoted then distanced himself from the venture
• Davis claims it wasn’t a rug pull however a “conception gone irascible” – ready for Milei’s 2d promotional video that never got here
• On-chain diagnosis stumbled on $87M in SOL and USDC all the blueprint in which thru five wallets from liquidity pools
• Crew admitted to “sniping” at starting up to forestall label manipulation by others

The cryptocurrency market faced any other high-profile incident as LIBRA, a Solana-basically based completely token endorsed by Argentine President Javier Milei, crashed from a $4 billion market cap on Friday, leaving its chief consultant maintaining $100 million in assets.

Hayden Davis, the 28-300 and sixty five days-mature CEO of crypto marketing agency Kelsier, emerged as a central figure within the controversy. Davis claims he’s now custodian of $100 million in digital assets from the failed starting up, mentioning he “would love directions on what to manufacture with it.”

The incident started when President Milei promoted LIBRA in a publish on X (formerly Twitter), calling it a token “devoted to encouraging the event of the Argentine economic system.” The publish used to be later deleted, and Milei has since denied data of the venture’s introduction.

On-chain analytics agency Bubblemaps tracked five digital wallets containing $87 million fee of Solana and USDC stablecoins. These funds got here from striking off liquidity from the shopping and selling pools that enabled LIBRA transactions. As of the most modern data, three wallets peaceable take care of $82.9 million in assets.

The starting up team admitted to the use of “sniping” ways all the blueprint thru the token’s unencumber. Davis outlined this used to be finished to forestall varied merchants from manipulating the label. The design eager beating varied merchants to buy the token first, aiming to take care of label steadiness.

Barstool Interview

In an interview with Barstool Sports actions founder Dave Portnoy, Davis printed the current conception integrated ready for a 2d promotional video from President Milei earlier than reinvesting the extracted funds. This 2d endorsement never materialized.

Whose money is the $100m+ that Hayden is at cloak sitting on? pic.twitter.com/mkmq6rcK8P

— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) February 17, 2025

Davis maintains that LIBRA’s collapse wasn’t a deliberate arrangement to defraud investors. “It’s no longer a rug pull,” he suggested YouTuber Coffeezilla. “It’s a conception gone miserably irascible with $100 million sitting within the story that I’m a custodian of.”

The token’s fee dropped bigger than 90% within 24 hours of its starting up. This rapid decline erased billions in market fee and led to accusations of market manipulation and insider shopping and selling.

Extra investigation by Bubblemaps connected LIBRA to varied cryptocurrency projects at the side of MELANIA, ENRON, and BOB. The diagnosis suggests a sample of coordinated label manipulation all the blueprint in which thru a couple of wallet addresses.

1/ How $LIBRA used to be created by the identical team on the help of MELANIA and varied quick-lived money

That comprises current onchain evidence

A thread with Coffeezilla 🧵 ↓ pic.twitter.com/gNwj97KapF

— Bubblemaps (@bubblemaps) February 17, 2025

Davis acknowledged his involvement with the MELANIA meme coin starting up however denied benefiting from it. “We indubitably weren’t the astronomical sniper,” he said. “We didn’t develop any money. There used to be no money made of the Melania team.”

Argentine lawyers bear filed fraud complaints following the incident. The right implications for every President Milei and Davis remain unclear as investigations continue.

Two wallets connected with the venture were emptied. These accounts previously held roughly $881,500 and $891,500 in USDC respectively, in step with data from Solscan.

Davis expressed concerns about his security in his interview with Coffeezilla, mentioning he fears turning into “public enemy quantity 1” in what he describes as a “multi-billion buck political drama.”

Dave Portnoy printed that Davis had sent him 6 million LIBRA tokens earlier than the starting up. Portnoy later returned these tokens to their offer.

The case has drawn attention to the role of political figures in cryptocurrency promotions. President Milei now faces criminal fraud costs for his involvement in promoting the token.