A single tweet released chaos in Argentina’s cryptocurrency markets, leaving thousands of investors burned and President Javier Milei‘s reputation in shambles. The president’s endorsement of $LIBRA, a mysterious “private project” cryptocurrency, sent the token’s value skyrocketing to nearly $5 before it came crashing down spectacularly.
Federal Judge María Servini isn’t amused. She’s launched a full investigation into what looks suspiciously like a classic crypto rug pull that affected over 40,000 people and vaporized more than $4 billion. Talk about a bad day at the office.
Furious federal judge investigates massive crypto scam that wiped out billions and left 40,000 Argentinians holding worthless tokens.
The numbers are staggering. Two accounts controlled 70% of the tokens, and insiders allegedly extracted $107 million before the whole thing went sideways. The token’s circulating supply directly impacted its rapid price movements, a common factor in cryptocurrency valuation. Milei’s tweet stayed up for five hours before he deleted it, claiming it was all just a big misunderstanding. Right.
The fallout has been brutal. Argentina’s S&P Merval stock index tumbled 5.6%, and opposition lawmakers are already sharpening their impeachment pencils. A special parliamentary commission wants answers, and the Anti-Corruption Office is digging through the digital debris. Federal prosecutors are examining whether Milei committed fraud or criminal association.
The timing couldn’t be worse for Milei’s economic reforms. This crypto catastrophe has become his government’s biggest reputational crisis, with international crypto figures like Ethereum co-founder Charles Hoskinson calling foul. Even U.S. courts are getting complaints.
Here’s the kicker: Milei met with crypto entrepreneur Hayden Davis in January, and his party members were busy promoting $LIBRA like it was the second coming of digital gold. The whole mess has drawn comparisons to the $Trump meme coin launched on the same platform. Meteora co-founder Ben Chow has denied any involvement beyond basic IT support.
Now Milei claims he acted in good faith and merely “spread” information about the token rather than promoting it. But with 82% of the supply released from the start and most tokens concentrated among a few holders, this looks less like a mistake and more like a textbook cryptocurrency scandal.
