The cryptocurrency world has been rocked this week by an episode involving the LIBRA token and Argentina’s President Javier Milei. What began as a seemingly promising initiative quickly turned into a controversy that has had significant political and financial repercussions.
The LIBRA memecoin was launched on February 14, 2025. One of the men allegedly behind the launch, Kelsier CEO Hayden Davis, claimed that he was also involved in the launch of the MELANIA memecoin (for the First Lady of the United States). Within minutes of LIBRA’s launch, President Milei shared a post on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) expressing enthusiasm for the project. He described it as a promising opportunity for investors and also said that it would support small and mid-sized businesses in Argentina. He wrote: “The world wants to invest in Argentina. $LIBRA.” Milei’s post included a Solana contract address linked to the LIBRA token.
This endorsement led to a rapid surge in the token’s value, with many investors rushing in to buy. The LIBRA token’s value skyrocketed, increasing by over 3,000% in a very short period, reaching a price of about $5 per token and a market cap of more than $4 billion about one hour after Milei’s post. But then, the price of the token began to fall, allegedly (see, for example, here) as a result of insiders pulling out their money. The value continued to fall over the ensuing hours. Milei deleted his post five hours after originally posting it, with the following statement:
A few hours ago I posted a tweet, like so many other countless times, supporting a supposed private project to which I obviously have no connection.
I was not aware of the details of the project and after having become aware of it I decided not to continue spreading it (that is why I have deleted the tweet).
From shortly after Milei’s first post to the time of his second post, about $4.4 billion in value was erased.
For obvious reasons, industry observers have described the operation as a “rug pull” – a scam where developers unveil a crypto token, attract investors, then quickly cash out. Milei is claiming that he was ignorant of the details of the project. Perhaps that is true because, while the LIBRA has the characteristics of a memecoin, Milei’s original post seemed to promote LIBRA as a serious business endeavor.
In any event, the fallout was immediate. Over 100 criminal complaints were filed against Milei and other parties involved. Deputies from the opposition UniĂłn por la Patria (Peronist) coalition have announced they will institute impeachment proceedings against Milei. Former president Cristina Fernández Kirchner branded Milei a “crypto-scammer.” And, not surprisingly, a U.S. law firm posted on X that persons who lost money on LIBRA should contact the firm.
Even Milei realized that the matter must be investigated. In a statement on X, the official account for the office of the Argentinian president posted, “Given the facts, President Javier Milei has decided to immediately involve the Anti-Corruption Office (OA) to determine whether there was improper conduct on the part of any member of the National Government, including the President himself.”
