Argentina's president withdraws support for LIBRA token, admits to skipping due diligence

Key Takeaways

• President Milei withdrew support for LIBRA token after it lost 85% value.
• Previously, Milei promoted CoinX, alleged as a Ponzi scheme impacting investors.

Argentina’s President Javier Milei has withdrawn his support for the LIBRA meme token after initially endorsing it, stating he had no connection to the project. Milei also admitted that he did not do his due diligence before tweeting support, but deleted his tweets once he became aware of the details.

The token, which was claimed to be part of the Viva La Libertad Project supporting Argentina’s economy, dropped 85% in value amid reports of the project team’s liquidation.

“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,” Milei said . “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).”

Analysis shows that 82% of the token supply is concentrated among a small number of addresses, suggesting centralized control.

In addition to clarifying his stance, Milei pushed back against critics seeking to capitalize on the controversy.

“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,” he said.

This isn’t Milei’s first controversy involving crypto projects. In late 2021, he promoted CoinX, an alleged crypto Ponzi scheme, on Instagram, claiming it could help Argentinians fight inflation, Protos previously reported .

CoinX promised high profits through AI-powered automated trading and expert traders, but investors reported not receiving the expected returns. The National Securities Commission subsequently ordered CoinX to cease operations.

Investors sued Milei, seeking damages for losses estimated at between 30 million and 40 million pesos (approximately $300,000).