After Argentina Coin Halving, Community Unearths Insider Trading in 36 Hours

Do you remember when Solayer developer Chaofan Shou said that he and Solayer engineers lost over $2 million on LIBRA? And what about that phrase, "Let's see what two hackers and a weekend can bring us"?

The weekend just ended, and indeed the LIBRA project has been exposed to many antics. BlockBeats has compiled the currently known stakeholders related to LIBRA and their statements based on public information, attempting to piece together the entire process of this LIBRA farce.

Related Read: "Argentinian President 'Rugs' After Pumping Coin, Team Makes Billions in 4 Hours"

Currently, there are several parties involved in LIBRA, including President Milei, the project team KIP Protocol, market maker Kelsier Ventures and its founder Hayden Davis, insiders close to the Argentine government, and multiple project teams including Jupiter.

Team Engages in Internal Strife Drama, Multiple Parties Self-Disclose

In the early hours of February 16, KIP Protocol posted on X stating that the release and liquidity provision of the LIBRA token were entirely managed by Kelsier Ventures and the project initiator Hayden Davis, and no related wallets belonged to KIP or Julian. KIP was only invited after the fact to manage and supervise the selection of funded technical projects. The reason KIP is publicly acknowledging its role in the project is because the project information is already listed on the official website and acknowledges the potential of the plan.

In the morning of February 16 at 8 am, Hayden Davis released a three-minute clarification video and related announcement, in which he mainly conveyed the following information:

1. Hayden Davis confirms that he is an advisor to Argentine President Javier Milei;

2. All funds that have been recovered— including all fees, profits, liquidity, and any other part that can be recovered— will be injected into the Libra trading pair in the next 24 to 48 hours;

3. Discloses that projects such as Photon, Bullex, Meteora, Jupiter, Moonshot, among others, profited on LIBRA;

Below the video, there is also an accompanying document announcement, with the main information including:

1. Hayden Davis's responsibility is to ensure LIBRA's liquidity while still retaining control of all related fees and fund reserves;

2. Javier Milei's team had previously assured Hayden Davis of continuous support during the LIBRA issuance, but Milei deleted a tweet without prior notice to the team;

3. Julian Peh, the founder of KIP Network and a major sponsor of the Libra Token, has not engaged in any improper behavior. Davis speculates that Milei's team attempted to shift blame to Julian in order to evade their own responsibility;

One hour later, the official Twitter account of the Argentine Presidency released a statement explaining the background of the LIBRA project, stating that on October 19, 2024, Argentine President Javier Milei met with representatives of KIP Protocol in Argentina. During this meeting, KIP presented to the President its plan to develop a project called "Viva la Libertad," aimed at using blockchain technology to provide financing support to Argentina's private enterprises.

On January 30, 2025, the President met with Hayden Mark Davis at the Presidential Palace, as introduced by representatives of KIP Protocol. Mr. Davis is set to provide technical infrastructure for the project. It was clarified that Hayden Davis has no direct relationship with the Argentine government and is only introduced by representatives of KIP Protocol as one of the project's partners.

The above represents the responses of the main stakeholders involved in the LIBRA project. Throughout this process, Solayer developer Chaofan Shou initially alleged that the LIBRA token's liquidity provider/creator was directly connected to Arunkumar Sugadevan and another Indian rug pull scammer, casting doubt on whether Kelsier Ventures outsourced token issuance to an Indian company. Through timeline analysis tracking fund flows, it was discovered that the LIBRA token creator is also an insider for the MELANIA and ENRON tokens, as well as the developer of the OG.FUN project, having laundered over $15 million in funds.

Later, he deleted the post and stated that Arunkumar Sugadevan was not associated with LIBRA, but only shared the same market maker. However, he created an infographic to consolidate the relevant content of his investigation, claiming that the LIBRA-related issuance team manipulated multiple meme coins.

Jupiter, Meteora, and Others Embroiled in Public Relations Crisis

In Hayden Davis' video, the most explosive content was his statement that projects such as Photon, Bullex, Meteora, Jupiter, and Moonshot were all involved in LIBRA's issuance and profited greatly.

Photon and Bullex are meme trading platforms popular in the English community, while Meteora, Jupiter, and Moonshot are all-in-one service providers of Solana meme coins that skyrocketed in popularity after the TRUMP coin. Many investors who joined the frenzy against LIBRA did so after finding contract information on Moonshot and heavily investing in it.

In the comments section of President Milei's tweet about meeting Hayden Davis on January 31, Meteora's founder commented on "changing the face of the world," which the community took as evidence that Meteora had also been involved in LIBRA's internal planning. Therefore, Meteora's founder, Ben, even released a clarification statement before Hayden Davis' video was published, stating that the LIBRA team used the unlicensed platform Meteora, but Meteora never controlled any tokens or had any direct contact with Milei.

Jupiter and its team members also issued clarifications, stating that several Jupiter team members were informed about the possibility of a token project related to the Argentine president around two weeks ago directly from Kelsier Ventures. "No member of the Jupiter team has ever received LIBRA tokens or any related compensation. Jupiter's founder, Meow, was unaware of the contract address or specific release time, and was not involved in any related operations. At the time, he was in Tokyo and sleeping during the token issuance."

In Jupiter's statement, it was mentioned that Meteora's founder, Ben, was informed of the contract address a few minutes before the token issuance for verification purposes but only shared it with the Jupiter team after the information was made public.

After Davis' video fermentation, multiple project teams mentioned in the video released clarification statements. Nearly all statements indicated that more detailed information would be provided to the community in the future, including Hayden Davis mentioning that he would continue to release videos disclosing the behind-the-scenes information. Despite all this, with the token price on the line, after two days of fermentation, LIBRA's market cap remains at only $300 million.

Insider Disclosure: Manipulated President

As for the most explosive LIBRA-related news, in the early hours of February 16, community developer @DiogenesCasares published an article titled "Bribery, Insiders, and the Manipulated President | The Truth of the $LIBRA Event," claiming to be an insider of the LIBRA issuance plan. He stated that a week ago, he began receiving messages about rumors circulating in the market regarding a meme coin related to Milei. These rumors originated from traders and industry insiders with reliable sources of information.

In the article, he wrote that he contacted several key figures in the Argentine crypto community, mainly executives of large crypto exchanges and platforms. They all stated that they had not heard of this project. One person mentioned that there was an idea led by American investors, including certain individuals such as JUP CEO, who wanted to create a token called $afuera, but this plan never materialized.

He later learned that a close confidant of Milei had received a $5 million bribe to push this token project in front of the president. This does not mean that Milei himself received a bribe, but rather that his confidant received funding to have Milei support the token.

The author claimed that the behind-the-scenes team of this project was highly similar to the token launched by Melania, Trump's wife, with on-chain evidence showing that many early $LIBRA buyers' wallets were associated with the Melania token. He also mentioned that the Meteora team was linked to the Melania token and played a significant role in the LIBRA project, or at least had knowledge of the token's plan.

Moreover, many key figures in the crypto industry and the Solana ecosystem had long possessed internal information about LIBRA and obtained token addresses ahead of most ordinary buyers (who usually rely solely on on-chain public data). Additionally, another $20 million was transferred across multiple wallets, with these wallets initially receiving LIBRA from the developers and then quickly selling for profit.

The author speculates that a group of foreign VCs, traders, intermediaries, and KOLs from the crypto community tried to promote this token to the Argentine government. Due to Milei's government's open-mindedness towards new ideas, they became their target, giving a somewhat absurd feeling of "Chu King's Extremely Slender Waist."

In additional information, the author also emphasizes that Milei himself did not directly participate, and the individuals involved are more likely to be members of his government team.

In line with this information, President Milei, in his statement, called on the Argentine Anti-Corruption Office to intervene and investigate whether there was any misconduct by government members, including the President himself. Simultaneously, a Special Investigation Team (UTI) was established, consisting of members from regulatory bodies in the fields of crypto assets, financial activities, money laundering, etc. This group will consolidate information, urgently investigate the issuance of the cryptocurrency LIBRA and all involved businesses and individuals. All evidence obtained from the investigation will be handed over to the judiciary to determine whether the companies or individuals related to the KIP Protocol project constitute a crime.

The Downfall of the Meme Conspiracy Group?

Within the community, some are reflecting on why they lost money, while others are actively advocating for their rights. Developer Farokh (@farokh) expressed his hope that Hayden Davis, the project leader of LIBRA, would expose the list of KOLs who received marketing rewards in LIBRA tokens. He also called on the crypto media and capable individuals to investigate this matter together.

Previously, Dave Portnoy stated in Space that he received 6 million LIBRA tokens for marketing purposes and that he knew the token's issuance contract in advance. The KIP team had discussed with him how to help him launch his token.

Crypto KOL Beanie (@beaniemaxi) sarcastically remarked that when Dave Portnoy starts playing the role of a righteous whistleblower KOL, you can imagine how deep this matter is and how dirty the "trench" actually is. (Author's note: Dave Portnoy had previously launched a parody meme coin called JAILSTOOL. Earlier, CZ had retweeted Dave Portnoy's tweet, saying, "To all meme coin players crying now: We all understand the rules of the game; everyone is here to make money, and no one is deceiving anyone. If you're trading junk coins, be prepared to lose your investment. That's the risk.")

Beanie, in the investigation surrounding Kelsier Ventures, stated that the meme coin KOL champ is a partner of the Kelsier Ventures team.

The crypto KOL NDF is a member of both Kelsier Ventures' team and the Fantom Troupe, explaining how the early LIBRA announcement made its way into the inner circle. It's akin to a Wall Street M&A banker who also day trades at the same firm, clearly showing a conflict of interest.

Beanie referred to Kelsier Ventures as a full-fledged family crime syndicate. In addition to CEO Hayden Davis, his father Tom Davis serves as Chairman, and his brother Gideon Davis as COO. Currently, Gideon has wiped his X profile and deactivated his Instagram.