Source: in text messages, Libra co-creator Hayden Davis bragged he could “control” Argentine President Javier Milei by making payments to Milei's sister, Karina
A key player behind the Libra token bragged about buying access to Argentine President Javier Milei's inner circle months …
CoinDeskDanny Nelson
Context & Ripple Effects
The allegation adds a possible access-and-influence dimension to the Libra episode, which began when Milei promoted and then removed a post about the token. The promotion preceded an extreme price reversal, and later analysis found that most Libra traders lost money.
Davis and Milei’s inner circle face sharper scrutiny over whether alleged private payments or access influenced a presidential promotion; the messages are an allegation, not proof of wrongdoing.
Libra holders and the broader public gain a more concrete basis to assess the conflict-of-interest concerns surrounding an endorsement that was quickly withdrawn.
Second-order effects
Token promoters, political intermediaries, and platforms associated with high-profile memecoin launches may face greater pressure to document sponsorships, affiliations, and who benefits from promotional access.
The alleged influence claims compound the credibility damage from Libra’s collapse, making celebrity- and politician-linked token promotions harder to separate from insider-access concerns.
Third-order effects
If similar cases continue to surface, political endorsements may become a central legitimacy test for crypto markets: disclosures and accountability around promotion could matter as much as a token’s technical claims.
The episode points to a widening divide between rapid, attention-driven token distribution and the governance safeguards needed when public officials or their networks become part of a launch narrative.
The trend: Libra is one data point in the crypto legitimacy gap, where promotional reach can move markets faster than transparent disclosures and oversight can establish trust.
Dear god 🫣 Javier Milei's $LIBRA drained over $280 MILLION USD from nearly 75,000 individual traders. Just look at these numbers: from 1000s to 10s of 1000s to MILLIONS of dollars... rug-pulled in hours. Scam of the century in Argentina. [image]
great scoop @realDannyNelson this is the kind of shady shit we have to expose and root out of this industry if we want to mature https://www.coindesk.com/... [image]
Local media have now published the messages in question Conversation between Hayden Davis and an exec at an unnamed crypto firm, where Davis was seeking funding for the Libra launch. They declined. [image]
If this is true and Milei's sister was receiving payments from Hayden This is next level corruption and crime Wow. Guess who stopped the interview yesterday when the interviewer asked ONE question that wasn't planned yesterday? Milei's sister. [video]
NEW: See the messages where Libra co-creator Hayden Davis brags about paying off Argentine president Javier Milei's sister. Davis ultimately bagged $100m+ from the Milei-endorsed Libra memecoin, which crashed in price and set off a massive political crisis ("criptogate") in [imag…
Hayden Davis is a scammer but he has given us the best showcase of transparency that the space hasn't given us in the past 5 years Most of the founders tweeting outraged about this have been involved in a lot of illegal shit and are claiming the moral highground fuck off
In messages reviewed by CoinDesk, Hayden Davis claimed he could “control” Milei because of payments he had been making to the president's sister. “I control that n****,” Davis claimed, adding, “I send $$ to his sister and he signs whatever I say and does what I want.” [image]