LIBRA token key figure Hayden Davis denies rug pull allegations, blames ‚plan gone wrong‘

Hayden Davis, who facilitated the launch of LIBRA, addressed allegations surrounding the token crash, insisting that it resulted from a failed strategy rather than a deliberate scheme to defraud investors.

“People are saying this is a rug pull,” said Davis in a Sunday interview with YouTuber and crypto sleuth Coffeezilla. “That’s not objectively true. There’s still like…60 million on the bonding curve of liquidity that’s locked.”

“It’s not a rug…it’s a plan gone miserably wrong with a $100 million sitting in account that I’m the custodian of,” Davis added. “I would love instructions on what to do with it. I don’t want, I have no desire to be public enemy number one.”

LIBRA token team sniped at launch

Davis admitted that the project’s team engaged in sniping during the LIBRA token launch to control market manipulation by other potential snipers. The plan, as detailed by Davis, was to accumulate enough liquidity to control snipers.

“…so when the chart dips down it’s not going to crush the whole project, have Milei do the second round of videos and then inject all the capital back in, or at least the vast majority, and create like a mega like a mega Trump launch basically,” he explained, adding that complications arose when key marketing support was withdrawn.

Addressing President Milei’s withdrawal of support for the LIBRA token, Davis suggested that Milei had faced intense political pressure that might have caused him to panic and ultimately retract his endorsement.

“As somebody in his position, I would feel rightly,” Davis said. He’s not like a crypto-native person.” He also clarified that while Milei supported the project, it wasn’t officially endorsed by the government or considered his personal token.

Milei is facing criminal fraud charges for his role in promoting the LIBRA token.

LIBRA loses over 90% value amid insider trading and manipulation allegations

LIBRA lost more than 90% of its value within 24 hours of its launch, erasing over $4 billion in market value amid allegations of insider trading and market manipulation.

Investigations revealed a complex network of market manipulations involving KIP Protocol, Davis’ Kelsier Ventures, and various influential figures. Dave Portnoy, founder of Barstool Sports, disclosed that Davis informed him about LIBRA’s launch plan and sent him 6 million tokens, which Portnoy later returned.

For the record I could care less that people know Hayden paid me back. I was fully planning on saying it on the live stream but he caught me off guard by texting me in the middle of it and asking me not to mention it. You can actually see my eyes read the text in real time… pic.twitter.com/DR4pqpDKhS

— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) February 17, 2025

Early on-chain analysis by Bubblemaps linked LIBRA to other projects including MELANIA, ENRON, and BOB, suggesting a coordinated manipulation system. The investigation identified connections between multiple wallet addresses and cross-chain transactions that pointed to organized price manipulation.

1/ How $LIBRA was created by the same team behind MELANIA and other short-lived coins

Featuring new onchain evidence

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

— Bubblemaps (@bubblemaps) February 17, 2025

Speaking with Coffeezilla, Davis admitted to being involved in the launch of the MELANIA meme coin, but claimed the team did not profit from it.

“We definitely weren’t the big sniper,” he said. “We didn’t make any. There was no money made from the Melania team on any. We didn’t take any liquidity out. Zero.”

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