Kelsier CEO Hayden Davis and the LIBRA Memecoin

Kelsier CEO Hayden Davis, the mastermind behind the controversial LIBRA memecoin, stated he also launched the MELANIA memecoin. His team sniped both tokens as soon as the contract addresses were live.

LIBRA’s Launch and Fallout

LIBRA was released on Friday, which prompted a now-deleted tweet of support from Argentina’s President Javier Milei, claiming it would aid small and mid-sized businesses in the country. His subsequent backtrack on the project caused a 95% plunge in the token’s value.

Sniping refers to the use of bots to buy memecoins just seconds after the smart contract activates. Wallets that utilize sniping often secure the majority of profit from these transactions.

Davis defended the token in an interview with crypto scam hunter Coffeezilla, stating, “It’s not a rug pull; it’s just a plan gone miserably wrong with $100 million sitting in an account that I’m the custodian of.”

The MELANIA Memecoin

This isn’t Davis’ first venture; he also assisted in launching the MELANIA memecoin associated with U.S. First Lady Melania Trump.

In response to questions about MELANIA, Davis revealed, “I’m happy to share the truth… I was part of it. I think the team intended to snipe it due to how big the snipe was on Trump’s memecoin. We definitely weren’t the big sniper. There was no money made from the MELANIA team; we didn’t take any liquidity out—zero.”

However, he later appeared to contradict himself when confronted with on-chain data, stating, “We didn’t swap liquidity [but] I didn’t say there was no money sold. There’s a difference between swapping liquidity and selling liquidations.”

As of now, MELANIA is trading at a $625 million market cap after an initial debut at $2.1 billion on January 20.

Insider Refunds

The ongoing controversy regarding LIBRA intensified when Davis refunded Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy $5 million after Portnoy experienced losses. Portnoy admitted in a conversation with Coffeezilla that he was aware of the project weeks before launch and bought tokens just ten minutes after Milei’s tweet.

This timing and subsequent refund suggested possible insider trading, a notion Davis dismissed, stating, “The idea of insiders is always bullshit… people that structure the deal benefit. It’s similar to any other business in the world. So I think that’s a bit of bullshit and that’s just crypto people that are angry because there’s an unfair advantage.”

CoinDesk attempted to contact Davis and Portnoy for comment but had not received a response by publication time.