Argentine Prosecutor Moves to Freeze $100M in Crypto Raised by LIBRA Sale

The lead prosecutor investigating Argentine President Javier Milei’s alleged participation in a scandal involving LIBRA has requested the freezing of assets related to the case and the recovery of deleted social media posts, including a Milei tweet promoting the Solana-based meme token.

Eduardo Taiano also requested detailed records of LIBRA transactions. 

In a post on the social media platform X last month, Milei promoted LIBRA, which was supposed to help the Argentine economy by funding small businesses and startups, telling his followers that “the world wants to invest in Argentina.”

LIBRA, which shot up in value to a market cap of about $4.5 billion. But soon after, it collapsed, leading some observers to allege it was a pump and dump scheme. 

Milei then deleted his tweet, and attorneys filed fraud charges against him. 

Before LIBRA’s implosion, a small collection of wallets holding most of the token supply cashed out. Crypto entrepreneur Hayden Davis, of marketing services and investment firm Kelsier, admitted that he ended up with a stash of $100 million from the project. 

Taino has asked international exchanges, law enforcement and regulators to cooperate in freezing funds, Argentine daily Clarín reported. 

Decrypt contacted Argentina’s public prosecutions office for comment. 

President Milei has been a darling of right-leaning voters and Bitcoiners who like his libertarian ideals. 

The Argentine leader has also won admiration by slashing government spending and for other measures that have cut into the country’s high inflation. 

But the former economist has seldom spoken about Bitcoin and in 2022—before he was president—investors sued Milei for posting about another crypto platform, CoinX, that allegedly falsely promised huge returns to users.  

Meme coins and tokens have made headlines since U.S. President Trump and his wife Melania debuted their own digital tokens ahead of his Jan. 20 inauguration. Both tokens—Solana-based TRUMP and MELANIA—rocketed up in value before crashing down again. 

Edited by James Rubin