Hayden Davis Netted $12M Sniping Kanye West’s YZY Memecoin

He’s back at it again! Hayden Davis, the self-proclaimed ‘facilitator’ of such well-received token launches as Javier Milei’s LIBRA and Melania Trump’s MELANIA, has reportedly netted US$12 million (AU$18.5m) sniping Kanye West’s recently launched YZY memecoin.

Blockchain analytics firm Bubbemaps said on X that it became suspicious of the YZY launch when it occurred just a day after a judge unfroze US$57 million (AU$88m) of Davis’ funds. These unfrozen funds had previously been tied up in the disastrous collapse of Argentine president Milei’s LIBRA cryptocurrency.

The unfreezing of those funds had prompted Bubblemaps to comment at the time that “crime is literally legal”, in a post about the ruling.

The day before YZY launched, Bubblemaps noted that several addresses had been funded from centralised exchanges and appeared to be readying to snipe the YZY launch. According to Bubblemaps, these accounts all “linked back to Hayden Davis (Kelsier) through funding transactions, CCTP transfers, and shared deposits.” Davis is the CEO of the company Kelsier Ventures.

Sniping in the world of cryptocurrency refers to using bots to buy newly launched tokens very quickly after they launch at a low price, usually with the intention of dumping them later after the price has increased. In many cases, snipers have insider knowledge of token launches and use this knowledge to buy before other investors.

Bubblemaps qualified their comments by noting they don’t have any direct evidence that Davis was involved in the launch of YZY or had insider knowledge.

We can’t confirm if Hayden (Kelsier) had insider info or a direct link to the YZY team.

Bubblemaps

However, the analytics firm also added that the addresses linked to Davis had made US$12 million (AU$18.5m) in profits and bought YZY just one minute after its launch was announced.

Related: Kanye West’s YZY Token Hits $3B in Minutes Before Insider Sale Fears Trigger Pullback

This Is Not Davis’ First Memecoin Sniping Rodeo

Davis is perhaps the crypto world’s best known sniper / insider trader, having previously used his insider knowledge of LIBRA, MELANIA and a number of other projects to snipe tokens and dump on retail investors.

In the case of MELANIA and LIBRA, Davis and his team essentially launched these tokens and then sniped their own launch, making enormous profits at the expense of retail investors.

In an interview with investigative journalist Coffeezilla earlier this year, Davis justified his dodgy behaviour by saying if he didn’t snipe these launches someone else would….and that would be worse because, well…he wasn’t clear on that.

So our goal was to 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…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. And if there’s enough volume, take some off so that people can have a chance to pump the chart back up.

Hayden Davis, Crypto facilitator / Sniper

In June of this year, the Argentine president, Javier Milei, was cleared of any wrongdoing for his role promoting LIBRA, which collapsed soon after its launch in February, leaving many retail investors out of pocket.

Related: Crypto Carnage Crosses Continents: Billions Flee US ETFs as Australian Bitcoin Funds Tumble

Argentina’s anti-corruption watchdog found that Milei was speaking “as an economist and not a public official”, when he pumped the token from his personal X account. The regulator added that Milei’s account “was created long before he was elected country president, and even before the beginning of his previous term as deputy.”

LIBRA hit a market cap of around US$4.5 billion shortly after launch, driven in part by Milei’s endorsement before dropping by over 90% in value.

In the aftermath, it was found that Davis had boasted in text messages that he wielded significant influence over the Argentine president because of payments he’d been making to Milei’s sister, Karina Milei.