LIBRA promoter Hayden Davis was directly involved in the YZY snipe, apparently earning him $12 million. This happened less than a week after a Federal Judge unfroze his assets in an ongoing suit.
“Crime is legal now” is a popular mantra in today’s crypto community, but this seems beyond the pale. Prominent observers have claimed that Davis’ willful criminality is “almost fascinating.”
Hayden Davis’ YZY Involvement
Celebrity meme coins can make for hot commodities in crypto, but the recent YZY incident highlights the underlying dangers. Kanye West’s new meme coin quickly surged to $3 billion and plummeted, leading to fears of a scam.
Today, Bubblemaps made the bold claim that Hayden Davis was personally involved in the YZY snipe:
Blockchain data already suggested that LIBRA promoters were involved in YZY, but there’s now distinct proof for Hayden Davis specifically. Several diversion methods helped conceal these connections, including CCTP transfers, shared deposits, and more, but these methods didn’t throw investigators off.
Davis was one of the main promoters for LIBRA, a famous rug pull that involved the Argentinian president, and he’s been involved in several other prominent scams. Still, this latest incident is particularly galling for a few reasons.
A Culture of Total Impunity
Less than a week ago, a US federal judge unfroze Hayden Davis’ assets in a LIBRA-related case, which made him a plausible actor in the YZY snipe. That is to say, if he had insider knowledge, these unfrozen assets could allow him to easily capitalize on this new opportunity.
Last week’s incident alone stirred up the community’s anger, especially comparing Davis’ light treatment to Roman Storm’s prosecution. Hayden Davis seemingly participated in a YZY snipe a few days after winning a partial reprieve over LIBRA, and the community is apoplectic.
This sort of willful impunity beggars belief. If this continues, there are countless downstream effects that could harm the whole ecosystem. Incidents like this can do a lot to sap the community’s support and encourage its future opponents.
What kind of environment are we creating, if someone can skate past legal consequences to immediately manipulate the market again? How can we even build useful technology under these circumstances? Wouldn’t aspiring blockchain engineers simply decide that market manipulation is a more profitable growth industry?
All that is to say, Hayden Davis’ YZY involvement is one more incident in a long list of criminal activities. 2025 has likely been crypto’s worst year for hacks, scams, and frauds, and it isn’t slowing down. Sniping incidents like this could be part of the meme coin sector as long as it exists.
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Source: https://beincrypto.com/hayden-davis-libra-yzy-snipe-backlash/
