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LIBRA scandal

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LIBRA scandal
LIBRA scandal
Image: token logo via CoinGecko / DexScreener listings
dateFebruary 14, 2025 onward
blockchainSolana
key figuresJavier Milei, Hayden Davis, Kelsier Ventures, Karina Milei
peak market capabout 4.5 billion dollars
estimated lossesroughly 250 million dollars (per Argentine court filings)

A February 2025 political and financial scandal in which a meme coin promoted by Argentine President Javier Milei collapsed within hours, triggering criminal probes and lawsuits on two continents.

Contents
  1. 1 Launch and collapse
  2. 2 Hayden Davis and Kelsier Ventures
  3. 3 Legal proceedings
  4. 4 Significance
  5. 5 References

The LIBRA scandal is the political and financial affair that followed the February 14, 2025 launch of LIBRA, a meme coin on Solana publicly promoted by Argentine President Javier Milei. The token reached a market capitalization above 4 billion dollars and collapsed within hours, while wallets linked to insiders extracted more than 100 million dollars. It became the largest political scandal of the trenches era, produced criminal investigations in Argentina and civil litigation in the United States, and remained unresolved as of August 2026.

Launch and collapse

On the evening of February 14, 2025, Milei posted on X promoting LIBRA as a private initiative to fund small Argentine businesses. The token, created by Kelsier Ventures, a firm led by American Hayden Davis, spiked to a peak market capitalization reported at about 4.4 to 4.56 billion dollars before crashing more than 95 percent within hours. Blockchain analysts, including researchers cited by CoinDesk and coin360, found that insider controlled wallets netted over 100 million dollars during the token's first hours by selling into the demand created by Milei's post. Milei deleted the post the same night and said he had not been aware of the project's details; opposition politicians demanded his impeachment, and Argentine court filings later put investor losses at roughly 250 million dollars.

Hayden Davis and Kelsier Ventures

Davis publicly acknowledged controlling roughly 100 million dollars from the launch, insisting in interviews that "this isn't some random scam" and that the funds belonged to the project. Reporting by CoinDesk revealed private messages in which Davis had bragged that he could "control" Milei because he sent money to Karina Milei, the president's sister and chief of staff; Davis later denied wrongdoing, and the payments allegation has not been proven in court. Investigations by ChainCatcher and others tied Kelsier Ventures to earlier launches, including the MELANIA token, and to a pattern of insider sniping at launch. In March 2025, Argentine lawyer Gregorio Dalbón formally requested an Interpol red notice for Davis, arguing he was a flight risk; The Block reported that the Argentine probe later surfaced a draft agreement that allegedly outlined a 5 million dollar payment to Milei in exchange for promotion, an allegation Milei's government rejects.

In Argentina, federal prosecutor Eduardo Taiano and Judge María Servini opened a criminal fraud investigation naming Davis and examining Milei's circle. Prosecutors sought to freeze about 110 million dollars in proceeds. In June 2025 Argentina's anticorruption office cleared Milei of public ethics violations, ruling his post was personal rather than official, and weeks later his government dissolved the special investigative task unit via Decree 332/2025, days after a judge ordered the unsealing of bank records belonging to the president and his sister, a sequence opposition figures characterized as obstruction and the government defended as routine. In 2026 the case intensified again: Judge Marcelo Giorgi ordered a freeze on assets connected to the probe, and prosecutors highlighted a transfer of 507,500 dollars through the exchange Bitget made 42 minutes after Milei posted a selfie with Davis, which the prosecution suggested could constitute an indirect payment to public officials; no proof that funds reached Milei has been presented. In April 2026 The New York Times reported that call logs linked Milei more closely to the token's promoters than he had acknowledged, and opposition deputies filed a complaint accusing prosecutor Taiano of delaying the case. As of August 2026 Milei had not been charged.

In the United States, buyers filed a class action in New York against Davis and associated entities. Judge Jennifer Rochon initially froze about 57.6 million dollars in USDC linked to the defendants, then dissolved the freeze in 2025 after finding the defendants had complied with the court, releasing the funds and 500 million LIBRA tokens in staged increments. Davis denied scam allegations in a sworn New York declaration, and reporting noted he had offered a 100 million dollar transfer to the Argentine court to demonstrate good faith.

Significance

Within meme coin culture the scandal marked the moment the trenches collided with a head of state. It popularized the term "sniper cabal," hardened skepticism toward politically branded tokens weeks after the trump coin launch, and became the reference case for insider extraction at launch.

References

Category: Events