After a difficult trip that resulted in fraud charges being brought against Brazilian President Javier Milei for his alleged involvement with the development of the LIBRA gift, on-chain information and a scathing insider interview have revealed details on how exactly the Solana meme coin has turned into a multi-million dollar scandal.
Milei has denied having any prior information of the project in press releases and posts.
In addition to these assertions, a joint investigation led by pseudonymous on-chain investigator Stephen Findeisen ( CoffeeZilla ) and blockchain analytics platform Bubblemaps has revealed on-chain evidence that suggests the same person was behind the unsuccessful LIBRA and MELANIA token launches.
” After analyzing cross-chain payments and scheduling designs, we’re very confident this is the situation”, Bubblemaps tweeted.
The research found that the projects had interconnected pocket activity, revealing how cross-chain transfers from one scheme provided funding for the other.
A significant Solana wallet with the tag” P5tb4″ accumulated more than$ 2.4 million through early trading of the MELANIA token before shifting funds to an Avalanche wallet with the tag” 0xcEA” directly connected to the token’s creator, Bubblemaps explained in a tweet thread.
A clear funding link existed between the jobs after that Avalanche wallet funded” DEfcyK,” which was later identified as LIBRA’s primary inventor wallet on blockchain explorer Solscan.
The LIBRA coin, which received a now-deleted support from Brazilian President Javier Milei on Friday, saw its business cap reach billions before falling 95 % after officials removed$ 87 million in cash.
Also, the MELANIA gift, promoted by the U. S. second lady in January, experienced an explosive surge before its price evaporated, leaving retail buyers with big losses.
Bubblemaps ‘ analysis suggests that the same group may have executed several other token launches, including projects codenamed TRUST, KACY, VIBES, and HOOD, following similar pump-and-dump patterns.
” People are after my family”
In an interview posted on YouTube, Findeisen spoke with Hayden Mark Davis, a representative of KIP Protocol, the LIBRA meme coin’s developer.
On the interview with Findeisen, Davis identified himself as a “launch strategist” rather than the core team member, and admitted to orchestrating both the LIBRA and MELANIA meme coin launches.
Davis claimed that Javier Milei’s team from Argentina initially supported LIBRA as a blockchain transparency experiment before disbanding when issues broke out.
According to Davis,” Despite prior commitments, Milei and his team unexpectedly changed their position, withdrawing their support, and delete all previous posts on social media,” according to a cited source in a previous report by the .
A contentious revelation from Davis concerns “project sniping”, a process where teams front-run their own token launches.
Davis defended this process as “protection” against external traders who might crash prices, though he acknowledges the practice’s controversial nature.
” Every single one of these launches, that’s what happens, [ …] three to ten guys get these massive chunks”. Davis explained the teams ‘ choice between allowing aggressive traders to rule or engaging in potentially manipulative behavior.
In the interview, Davis confirmed rumors of an “insider benefit” deal with Dave Portnoy, founder of Barstool Sports, saying he refunded Portnoy$ 5 million that he lost as a result of the LIBRA launch—though Hayden admitted to regretting the refund because it was “unfair”.
Portnoy “knew about the launch”, Hayden said, adding that, “he had time to put$ 5 million together which he traded on this coin, then he loses the money ironically and you refund him”.
reached out to Portnoy for comment, and it will update this article if he responds.
Davis also outlines possible solutions, including user refunds or liquidity reinjection, while emphasizing the complexity of his position.
” There’s what,$ 60 million on the bonding curve of liquidity that’s locked”, he said. He continued, claiming that he had been receiving death threats as a result of his involvement in the launch of LIBRA and that it was a plan gone horribly wrong.
Because this is an international incident, Davis said,” This isn’t like some random scam,” Davis said,” The fact that I have control is also what makes me a target and also protects me.”
” People are after my family”, he said, adding that because of the involvement of a president, “it’s a very different game”.
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