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

The weekend has just ended, and indeed the LIBRA project has been exposed to many twists and turns. BlockBeats has compiled the known parties of interest related to LIBRA and its issuance, along with their statements based on public information, attempting to piece together the full story of this LIBRA farce.

Related Reading: "Argentinian President 'Rug Pulls' After Coin Issuance, Team Makes Billions in 4 Hours"

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

Team Drama Unfolds, Multiple Parties Come Clean

In the early hours of February 16, KIP Protocol posted on X stating that the release and market-making of LIBRA tokens were entirely handled by Kelsier Ventures and the project's initiator Hayden Davis. No wallets related to KIP or co-founder Julian were involved. KIP was only invited post-release to manage and oversee the selection of technology projects funded. KIP's public admission of their role in the project was due to the project information being listed on the official website and the recognition of the potential of the plan.

At 8 a.m. on February 16, Hayden Davis released a three-minute clarification video and related announcement, where he mainly conveyed the following points:

1. Hayden Davis confirmed that he is a advisor to Argentinian President Javier Milei;

2. All funds recovered, including all fees, profits, liquidity, and any other recoverable parts, will be injected into the Libra trading pair within the next 24 to 48 hours;

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

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

1. Hayden Davis's responsibility is to ensure LIBRA's liquidity while still maintaining 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 tweets without prior notice to the team;

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

One hour later, the official Twitter account of the Argentine President's Office posted an announcement explaining the background of the LIBRA project. It stated that on October 19, 2024, Argentine President Javier Milei met with representatives of KIP Protocol in Argentina. During this meeting, KIP introduced the president to their plan to develop a project called "Viva la Libertad," aimed at providing financing support to Argentina's private enterprises through blockchain technology. On January 30, 2025, the President met with Hayden Mark Davis at the Presidential Palace. According to the KIP Protocol representative, Mr. Davis will provide the technical infrastructure for this project. The announcement also stated that Hayden Davis has no relation to the Argentine government and was only introduced as one of the project's partners by the KIP Protocol representative.

Subsequently, KIP issued a statement denying this claim, stating that they did not participate in the presidential meeting on January 30 and did not profit from the LIBRA issuance. They only participated in post-issuance work as instructed by Kelsier.

The above are responses from the main participants in the LIBRA project. During this process, Solayer developer Chaofan Shou, who suffered losses, initially stated that the LIBRA token's liquidity provider/creator had direct connections to Arunkumar Sugadevan, another Indian rug-pull scammer, questioning whether Kelsier Ventures had outsourced the token issuance to an Indian company. Through timeline analysis tracking the flow of funds, it was discovered that the creator of the LIBRA token was also an insider of the MELANIA and ENRON tokens, as well as a developer for the OG.FUN project, having laundered over $15 million in funds.

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

Jupiter, Meteora, and Others Embroiled in Public Opinion Crisis

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

Photon and Bullex are meme trading platforms popular in the English community, while Meteora, Jupiter, and Moonshot are all-in-one service providers for Solana meme coins that gained popularity after the TRUMP coin. Many investors who rushed into LIBRA did so because they could find contract information on Moonshot and heavily invested as a result.

In a Twitter post on January 31 by President Milei about his meeting with Hayden Davis, the founder of Meteora commented on "changing the face of the world," which the community took as evidence that Meteora was also involved in the internal planning of LIBRA. Therefore, even before Hayden Davis released the video, Meteora's founder Ben had already issued a clarification statement, stating that the LIBRA team used the unlicensed platform of Meteora but that Meteora never controlled any tokens and had no direct contact with Milei.

Jupiter and its team members also issued clarifications, stating that about two weeks ago, several members of the Jupiter team learned directly from Kelsier Ventures that there might be a token project related to the President of Argentina in the future. "No member of the Jupiter team has ever received the LIBRA token or any related reward. Jupiter's founder, Meow, did not know the contract address or the specific release time and was not involved in any related operations. At the time, he was in Tokyo and was asleep during the token issuance.

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

After Davis' video fermentation, several project teams he mentioned released clarification statements. Almost all statements indicated that more detailed information would be provided to the community in the future, with Hayden Davis also stating that he would continue to release videos to disclose the underlying information. Despite this, with the token price hanging in the balance, after two days of fermentation, LIBRA's market value has dwindled to just $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 mentioned receiving messages a week ago about rumors circulating in the market regarding a meme coin related to Milei. This information came from traders and industry insiders with reliable sources.

In the article, he wrote that he contacted several core figures in the Argentine crypto community, mainly executives of large crypto exchanges and platforms. All of them stated never having heard of this project. One person mentioned that an idea led by U.S. investors had been proposed, where certain individuals, including JUP CEO, had considered creating a token called $afuera, but this plan never materialized.

He later learned that a close confidant of Milei had accepted a $5 million bribe to push this token project in front of the president. This did not imply that Milei himself received the bribe, but rather that his associate took the funds to have Milei endorse the token.

The author stated that the project's behind-the-scenes team bore a strong resemblance to the token previously launched by former First Lady Melania Trump, with on-chain evidence showing many early $LIBRA investors' wallets being linked to the Melania token. He also mentioned the involvement of the Meteora team with the Melania token and their significant role in the LIBRA project, or at least their knowledge of the token's plan.

Furthermore, many key figures in the crypto industry and Solana ecosystem had long been privy to the internal information of LIBRA, obtaining token addresses ahead of most regular purchasers (who typically rely solely on on-chain public data). Additionally, $20 million was transferred from multiple wallets, initially receiving LIBRA from the developers and swiftly selling for profits.

The author speculates that a group of foreign VCs, traders, intermediaries, and KOLs in the crypto community tried to pitch this token to the Argentine government. The Milei government, due to its openness to new ideas, became their target, giving a sense of absurdity akin to the "Chu King's Waist is Slim" (Chinese idiom).

In additional information, the author also emphasizes that Milei himself did not directly participate, and it is more likely that someone from his government team was involved.

In alignment with this information, President Milei requested the Argentine Anti-Corruption Office to intervene in a statement, investigating whether there was any misconduct among government members, including the president himself. A special investigation team (UTI) will be set up, comprising members from regulatory bodies in the fields of crypto assets, financial activities, money laundering, etc. This team will consolidate information, urgently investigate the issuance of the crypto currency LIBRA and all entities and individuals involved. 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 have committed any crimes.

The downfall of the meme conspiracy group?

Within the community, some are reflecting on why they lost money, while others are actively seeking justice. Developer Farokh (@farokh) expressed a hope that Hayden Davis, the project manager of LIBRA, will expose the list of KOLs who received marketing rewards in LIBRA tokens, and called on crypto media and capable individuals to investigate this matter together.

Previously, Dave Portnoy stated in a Space that he received 6 million LIBRA tokens for marketing, and he was aware of the token's issuance contract in advance, purchasing in advance through a small wallet. Additionally, Kelsier Ventures had discussed with him how to help him issue his own token.

Crypto KOL Beanie (@beaniemaxi) jokingly remarked that when Dave Portnoy starts playing the role of a righteous whistleblower KOL, one can imagine how deep this matter is and how dirty the "trench" really is. (Author's note: Dave Portnoy had previously launched a satirical meme coin called JAILSTOOL. Previously, 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, no one is deceiving anyone. If you are trading junk coins, you should be prepared to lose all your investment. That's the risk.")

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

Meanwhile, the crypto KOL NDF is both a member of Kelsier Ventures' team and part of the Fantom Troupe, explaining how the advance notice of LIBRA made its way into the insider circle. It's akin to a Wall Street M&A investment banker who also dabbles as a day trader within the same firm, clearly presenting a conflict of interest.

Beanie referred to Kelsier Ventures as a full-fledged family crime syndicate. Apart from CEO Hayden Davis, his father Tom Davis serves as the chairman, and his brother Gideon Davis as the COO. Currently, Gideon has wiped clean his X profile and deactivated his Instagram account.

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