Libra memecoin 'facilitator' Hayden Davis admits team sniped token at launch

Hayden Davis, widely known as an advisor and self-proclaimed facilitator to the controversial Libra token, said the project's team sniped Libra at its launch — claiming it was done to deter others from sniping.

Libra emerged last Friday after Argentina’s President Javier Milei promoted the token. Libra’s price surged to billions, then crashed in hours as Milei withdrew his support. 

“So our goal was, can we take enough liquidity off to get all the snipers out, or at least control them so that when the chart dips down, it’s not going to crush the whole project,” Davis said in a video interview with YouTuber and crypto sleuth Coffeezilla. He later added that he controlled team wallets holding over $100 million worth of funds netted from the Libra launch.

Sniping is a term in crypto that typically refers to an automated bot or smart contract executing programmed transactions to buy a large portion of a newly launched token’s supply — typically to be sold later for a significant profit.

“My point is, sniping, when you’re the team, I’m not saying it should always happen, but I’m saying a lot of times it’s to protect,” Davis said. “And if there's enough volume, take some off so that people can have a chance to pump the chart back up.”

As noted in the Coffeezilla video interview's description on YouTube, Davis alleged Tech Forum Argentina’s Mauricio Novelli, Manuel Godoy and Kip Protocol are central members of the Libra memecoin. While the YouTuber noted Davis as one of Libra's “big four” creators, Davis said he was a “facilitator” of Libra, not a deployer or the team.

Hayden says memecoins are rife with insider trading

When questioned about his behind-the-door deal with crypto influencer Dave Portnoy, Davis said almost every memecoin launch has insider trading and indicated that crypto key opinion leaders (KOLs) having insider knowledge before a token is launched is standard procedure in a memecoin launch.

Barstool Sports founder Portnoy previously said he returned 6 million Libra tokens gifted by Davis because the Libra advisor told him not to disclose the gift to the public. Davis said the gift was given to Portnoy as a “refund” after he lost money trading Libra post-launch and said during the interview that it was “probably a mistake.”

“People that get mad are the people that aren’t insiders,” Davis said. “All the bitching on socials is all the people that don't get into the deals. You'll never hear them bitch if they're in the deal.”

Meanwhile, Davis also admitted that he was part of the team that launched Melania Trump’s Melania memecoin and that the Melania team also sniped the token at launch. “I think the team did want to snipe it because of how big the snipe was on Trump’s [memecoin],” said Davis, who added that the team sold liquidations but did not swap the liquidity.

Blockchain analysts at onchain data provider Bubblemaps previously uncovered wallets linked to the Melania memecoin creator, who was also involved in transactions with the Libra token.

“[Libra's] not a rug, it's a plan gone miserably wrong with $100 million sitting in [an] account that I'm the custodian of,” Davis said in the Coffeezilla interview. “I would love instruction on what to do with it, I don’t desire to be [the] public enemy.” 

According to Davis, Argentina President Milei is set to appear in a “pretty substantial” TV interview coming tomorrow regarding his involvement in Libra. It was reported that several Argentinian lawyers have charged Milei with fraud over Libra.