After Argentina Coin Halving, Community Uncovers Insider Secrets within 36 Hours

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

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

Related Read: "Argentine President 'Rug Pull' after Coin Issuance, Team Makes Billions in 4 Hours"

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

Team Drama Unfolds, Multiple Parties Come Clean

Early on 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, with no wallets related to KIP or co-founder Julian. KIP was only invited post-launch to manage and oversee the selection of funded technical projects. KIP's public acknowledgment of its role in the project was due to the project information being listed on the official website and the recognition of the plan's potential.

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

1. Hayden Davis confirmed that he is a consultant to Argentine President Javier Milei;

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

3. 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 their continuous support during the LIBRA issuance, but Milei deleted tweets without prior notice to the team;

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

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

On January 30, 2025, the President met with Hayden Mark Davis at the Presidential Palace, as per the KIP Protocol representative's introduction, Mr. Davis will provide the technical infrastructure for this project. It was mentioned that Hayden Davis has no relation to the Argentinian government and is only introduced as one of the project's partners by the KIP Protocol representative.

The above represents the responses from the main visible participants of the LIBRA project. During this process, Solayer developer Chaofan Shou initially pointed out that the LIBRA token's market maker/creator had direct connections to Arunkumar Sugadevan, a known exit scammer in India, casting doubt on whether Kelsier Ventures outsourced the token issuance to an Indian firm. Through timeline analysis tracking fund flows, it was discovered that the creator of the LIBRA token was also an insider of the MELANIA and ENRON tokens, involved in the OG.FUN project, and had laundered over $15 million in funds.

Later, the post was deleted, stating that Arunkumar Sugadevan was not associated with LIBRA, but was only sharing the same market maker. However, he created an infographic consolidating the relevant information he investigated, alleging that the LIBRA-related issuance market maker team manipulated multiple meme coins.

Jupiter, Meteora, and Others Embroiled in Public Relations Crisis

In Hayden Davis's video, the most explosive content was his claim that Photon, Bullex, Meteora, Jupiter, Moonshot, and other projects participated in LIBRA's issuance and profited handsomely.

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

In the Twitter thread of the meeting between Hayden Davis and President Milei on January 31st, the founder of Meteora commented on "changing the world's appearance," 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's video was published, stating that the LIBRA team used the unlicensed platform Meteora but never controlled any tokens or had any direct contact with Milei.

Jupiter and its team members also issued clarifications, stating that about two weeks ago, several Jupiter team members were informed directly by Kelsier Ventures that there might be a token project related to the Argentine president in the future. "No member of the Jupiter team has ever received LIBRA tokens or any related rewards. Jupiter's founder, Meow, was unaware of the contract address or specific launch time and did not participate in any related operations. At the time of token issuance, he was in Tokyo and asleep.

In their statement, Jupiter indicated that Meteora's founder, Ben, learned 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 by him have released clarification statements. Almost all statements indicate that more detailed information will be provided to the community in the future, with Hayden Davis also stating that he will continue to release videos to disclose the information behind the scenes. With the token price set, after two days of fermentation, LIBRA still has only a $300 million market cap.

Insider Reveals: 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, Insider, and Manipulated President | The Truth of the $LIBRA Incident," claiming to be an insider of the LIBRA issuance plan. He stated that he had started receiving messages a week ago, saying that rumors were circulating in the market about the upcoming launch of a meme coin related to Milei. This information originated from traders and industry insiders with reliable sources.

In the article, he wrote that he contacted several key figures in the Argentine crypto community, mainly executives from major crypto exchanges and platforms. They all stated that they had not heard of this project. One person mentioned that an idea led by U.S. investors had been proposed, where some individuals, including the JUP CEO, had thought about creating a token called $afuera, but this plan did not materialize.

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

The author mentioned that the behind-the-scenes team of this project is highly similar to the token launched by the former First Lady Melania Trump, and on-chain evidence indicates that many early $LIBRA buyers' wallets are associated with the Melania token. They also stated that the Meteora team is connected to the Melania token and played a significant role in the LIBRA project or at least had knowledge of the token's plan.

Furthermore, many key figures in the crypto industry and Solana ecosystem have long been aware of LIBRA's internal information and obtained the token addresses before most ordinary purchasers (who usually rely solely on on-chain public data). In addition, another $20 million was transferred from multiple wallets where they initially received LIBRA from the developers and quickly sold it for profit.

The author speculates that a group of foreign VCs, traders, intermediaries, and KOLs from the crypto community tried to pitch 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 Wang Feels Thin-Waisted."

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 a statement, requested the Argentine Anti-Corruption Office to intervene and investigate whether there was any misconduct by government members, including the president himself. He also established a special investigation group (UTI) composed of members from regulatory bodies in the crypto asset, financial activities, money laundering, and related fields. This group will compile information, urgently investigate the issuance of the cryptocurrency LIBRA, and all entities and individuals involved. All evidence gathered in the investigation will be handed over to the judiciary to determine whether any individuals or entities related to the KIP Protocol project have committed a crime.

The Collapse 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 wish for LIBRA project head Hayden Davis to disclose the list of KOLs who received compensation in LIBRA tokens, and called on the crypto media and capable individuals to investigate the matter together.

Previously, Dave Portnoy stated in Space that he received 6 million LIBRA tokens for marketing purposes, and he knew the token's issuance contract beforehand, buying in early through a small wallet, with the KIP team having discussed with him how to help him release his own token.

Crypto KOL Beanie (@beaniemaxi) sarcastically stated that when even Dave Portnoy starts playing the role of a righteous whistleblower KOL, one can imagine how deep the matter is and how dirty it gets in the "trench," implying hidden aspects of the situation. (Author's note: Dave Portnoy previously launched the satirical meme coin JAILSTOOL. In the past, CZ also retweeted Dave Portnoy's tweet, saying, "To all the meme coin players crying now: we all know the rules of the game, everyone is here to make money, no one is deceiving anyone. If you're trading trash coins, be prepared to lose all your investment. That's the risk.")

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

The crypto KOL NDF is not only a member of Kelsier Ventures' team but also a member of the Fantom Troupe, which explains how the advance notice of LIBRA's message was leaked into an inner circle. It's akin to a Wall Street M&A investment banker who also moonlights as a day trader at the same firm, clearly presenting a conflict of interest.

Beanie referred to Kelsier Ventures as a veritable family-style criminal organization. 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 his X profile clean and deactivated his Instagram.