The president touted a token purporting to help small business, but disavowed the project after the cryptocurrency crashed
Argentina’s opposition lawmakers have threatened to initiate impeachment proceedings against President Javier Milei after he promoted a controversial cryptocurrency, Reuters reported on Sunday. The head of state had touted the token, which crashed soon after.
On Friday, the libertarian president recommended the LIBRA crypto coin in a post on X (formerly Twitter). The token’s price shot up to nearly $5 soon after the endorsement, but plummeted to under $1 only hours later. Milei deleted his initial post five hours later and wrote a new one, saying he was “not aware of the details of the project.”
The controversy has fueled accusations of misconduct from the country’s opposition lawmakers. Leandro Santoro, a member of the opposition coalition, blasted Milei’s involvement, saying that his endorsement of the crypto, which has been linked to possible scams, was an abuse of public trust.
“This scandal, which embarrasses us on an international scale, requires us to launch an impeachment request against the president,” Santoro said, as cited by Reuters.
The news agency noted that Argentina’s fintech chamber acknowledged the possibility of a so-called rug pull, a kind of foul play, in which the developers of a crypto currency draw legitimate investments, boosting the value of the token, only to later dump their stake.
On Saturday, Milei said, as cited by Bloomberg, that he had met with KIP Protocol, the company behind the controversial coin, months ago, as part of his government’s broader push to revive the country’s economy by attracting investments. The firm’s website features a photo of its co-founder and the Argentine president giving a thumbs-up dated October 30, 2024. The news agency noted that the token’s name could apparently refer to Milei’s political party, La Libertad Avanza, or his libertarian roots as an economist.
Meanwhile, the company disavowed the launch of the LIBRA token as well, saying in a post on X that “market making was fully handled by KelsierVentures” and emphasizing that KIP Protocol “did not profit a single cent from today’s activity.”
Shortly after assuming office in 2023 Milei applied his shock therapy measures in an effort to stabilize the country’s economy. Among the drastic steps taken by his government have been devaluation of the national currency by 52%, layoffs of over 33,000 public sector workers, and deep cuts to state transport, fuel and energy subsidies, among other measures. Earlier this year, the president stated that he’d met his pledge to reach zero budget deficit after the country’s economy ministry reported an annual budget surplus of 1.76 trillion pesos (some $4.5 billion), the first in more than a decade.
