On Friday evening, Argentinian President Javier Milei posted his support for the Libra (LIBRA) token, only to find that it became worthless after insiders dumped the token. At first, there was much speculation as to whether Milei’s X account had been hacked or whether he was involved in the scam. The incident has been called a ‘rug pull’ scam because the insiders could pull unlocked funds after the price went up. Milei has taken responsibility for his post, suggesting there was no hack. Others thought the post was a political stunt. But when other Argentinian politicians suggested it was real, many bought into the pump-and-dump. Within minutes, LIBRA had a $4.6 billion market cap. The Argentinian FinTech chamber has commented on the incident, suggesting that it was most likely a “rug pull” in which investors were drawn into the scam only to have their money dumped on the market later on. Leandro Santoro, an opposition member, commented, “This scandal, which embarrasses us on an international scale, requires us to launch an impeachment request against the president.” Carlos Maslaton, a liberal economist and former ally of Milei, commented, “It’s official – there was no hack, confirmed by his entire inner circle. Milei is directly involved in a crypto fraud. He has crossed all moral boundaries; this post was made to steal. There is no longer any doubt – grounds for impeachment.” The insiders cashed out $107 million, wiping out nearly 94% of the token’s value within hours. Milei has since commented that he was not involved in the pump-and-dump scam and had merely posted a comment about a crypto project that claimed to support Argentinian businesses. He didn’t stop there, however, adding that his political opponents were capitalizing on the incident to attack his reputation. Milei deleted the post promoting LIBRA and replaced it with the following explanation: “A few hours ago I posted a tweet, as I have so many other times, supporting a supposed private enterprise with which I obviously have no connection whatsoever. I was not aware of the details of the project, and after having become aware of it, I decided not to continue spreading the word (that is why I deleted the tweet). To the filthy rats of the political caste who want to take advantage of this situation to do harm, I want to say that every day they confirm how vile politicians are, and they increase our conviction to kick them in the ass”. As LIBRA’s price collapsed, a significant amount of funds were dumped from just eight project-related wallets. A total of $107 million in dumped tokens strongly suggests that this was a pump-and-dump scam. The token was dumped for roughly $50 million Solana (SOL) and $50 million Coin (USDC). The public was left in the dark, as they often are in the event of a scam. The insiders had the advantage of knowing what they were going to do before the dump. Only 27% of transactions were sales, suggesting that retail investors were trying to buy the dip, having no idea about the tragedy that would befall them. Over $1.1 billion was traded during the event, while the insiders benefited from the dump. Justin Sun, creator of TRON (TRX), weighed in on the incident, saying: “I have great respect for President Milei. I believe that he should take some responsibility in this matter, urging the culprits to return the funds to the victims and assume the corresponding legal responsibilities. Protecting investors is a very serious legal duty, and we must take it seriously”.
