Kelsier Ventures

The September 2026 federal ruling describes Kelsier in its factual background as a family-run venture-capital firm incorporated under Texas law in 2021. That background draws on the amended complaint and incorporated documents rather than an independently examined incorporation certificate.⁠[2]

On November 29, 2023, Bitcoin Magazine reported from a supplied press release that Kelsier Ventures participated in Saturn’s pre-seed round of more than $500,000, alongside lead investor Big Brain Holdings, UTXO Management and BOOGLE Syndicate. Saturn was developing noncustodial peer-to-peer order books around Bitcoin satoshis. The amount was the total round, not Kelsier’s individual commitment. The publication disclosed that it and UTXO Management shared parent BTC Inc.⁠[3]

E Money Network’s May 2024 review, published in June, lists Kelsier Ventures among the backers of a bridge round, alongside Animoca Brands and GBV Capital. It documents investment activity in blockchain infrastructure before the later token-launch disputes.⁠[4]

The M3M3 token launched on December 4, 2024 using Meteora-related trading and staking mechanisms. In a later written statement reproduced in the court record, Benjamin Chow said he invited Hayden Davis and Kelsier to launch a token as an initial case study for the new M3M3 platform. He said they deployed and launched it themselves, followed by revised tokenomics and a grant for the Meteora community. His account distinguished platform support from deployment responsibility.⁠[2]

Hayden Davis met Argentine President Javier Milei on January 30, 2025. The court record describes Milei’s subsequent photograph and post about blockchain and AI applications, followed by Kelsier’s repost describing an advisory role in that technology vision. The company’s promotional description of advising Milei does not establish an appointment to government office.⁠[2]

LIBRA launched on February 14, 2025 in connection with the private Viva La Libertad project, whose website presented it as supporting entrepreneurship in Argentina. Milei posted the project and token address on X that day, then deleted the promotion and said he had not known the project’s details. The launch, liquidity arrangements and promotion subsequently became subjects of civil litigation and an Argentine investigation.⁠[2][5]

On February 15, Kelsier published statements from Hayden Davis. In the written release quoted by the court, he said he was responsible for project liquidity and still controlled associated fees and treasury funds. He attributed panic selling and lost confidence to the withdrawal of promotion by Milei’s team. This was Davis’s explanation, not an independent determination of how funds were used or who was liable.⁠[2]

Arkham announced on February 19, 2025 that it had identified more than 1,000 addresses associated with Kelsier Ventures and Hayden Davis, divided between LIBRA and Kelsier Ventures (Hayden Davis) entity labels. Its nearly $300 million figure combined both labels, largely LIBRA tokens, and included about $100 million in USDC and SOL. These were Arkham’s attribution and valuation estimates, not audited company assets under management or personal net worth.⁠[6]

Omar Hurlock filed suit in New York state court on March 17, 2025; the action was removed to the Southern District of New York on May 9. A July 30 amended complaint added Anuj Mehta and asserted claims concerning M3M3 and LIBRA under fraud, civil RICO, New York consumer-protection law and unjust enrichment theories. Plaintiffs alleged that token launches and liquidity operations benefited insiders at purchasers’ expense. These were contested allegations in an action later dismissed.⁠[2]

Argentina’s prosecution service said on June 4, 2025 that prosecutor Eduardo Taiano sought a freeze of about 44.59 million USDC on March 26 and Judge María Servini sent an international-assistance request to the United States on April 3 concerning a wallet in the LIBRA investigation. The announcement documented the request and cooperation process, not a completed freeze under that request. It was separate from the later U.S. civil restraining order.⁠[5]

On May 27, the U.S. court issued an ex parte temporary restraining order directing Circle to freeze about 57.65 million USDC in two specified wallets and restricting disposition of LIBRA and related proceeds controlled by defendants. The order preserved assets pending consideration of a preliminary injunction and expressly allowed revision following defendants’ objections. It was not a final adjudication of fraud liability.⁠[7]

On August 19, the court denied a preliminary injunction and dissolved the May restraining order. On October 31, it rejected requests for reconsideration and a narrower freeze, explaining that plaintiffs had not sufficiently shown irreparable harm or identified new evidence or a change in law warranting reconsideration. The May order therefore did not remain continuously effective thereafter.⁠[8][9]

On March 20, 2026, Argentina’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office No. 8 issued a statement confirming the continuing LIBRA investigation and explaining that a digital-forensics report had been completed, added to the record and made available to the parties. This criminal investigation and the New York civil action were distinct proceedings; the later U.S. dismissal did not decide the Argentine proceeding’s outcome.⁠[10][2]

Judge Jennifer L. Rochon dismissed the civil RICO claims against Kelsier and the three Davis defendants on September 29, 2026. The court found insufficient continuity: allegations spanning roughly six months, a limited group and two token launches did not establish closed-ended continuity, and plaintiffs had not adequately pleaded that such conduct would continue as a regular way of doing business. The asserted repeatable-launch scheme was therefore not an established judicial finding.⁠[2]

The court dismissed the remaining state-law claims against the Kelsier defendants for lack of personal jurisdiction, without reaching their merits. It also denied leave to amend again, dismissed the amended complaint with prejudice and ordered the case closed. The outcome rests on those specific procedural and pleading grounds; it neither established fraud nor granted universal exoneration for every related act or proceeding in another country.⁠[2]

In a statement dated October 1, 2026, Sbaiti & Company characterized the dismissal as a major victory and argued that token volatility and purchaser losses alone did not establish a federal racketeering case. The firm represented Kelsier and other Davis defendants, while separately named counsel represented Hayden Davis. This was the defense’s assessment; the court’s text defines the ruling’s scope.⁠[11][2]

At approximately 06:02 UTC on October 12, 2026, Arkham’s Kelsier Ventures (Hayden Davis) page displayed about 1,200 addresses valued at $2,016,749.24, or roughly $2.02 million. This was a snapshot for one label, whereas the February 2025 near-$300 million announcement also included the separate LIBRA label. The different scopes do not support a direct portfolio-loss calculation, a finding about where funds went, or an estimate of personal net worth.⁠[12][6]