Milei-endorsed Libra plummets after $107M insider 'rug pull'

The Libra (CRYPTO:LIBRA) token, endorsed by Argentine President Javier Milei, experienced a massive crash after insiders cashed out $107 million, causing a 94% value decrease within hours.

On-chain analytics firm Lookonchain identified at least eight wallets linked to the Libra team that siphoned liquidity, obtaining 57.6 million USD Coin (USDC) and 249,671 Solana (CRYPTO:SOL), worth $49.7 million.

The token's market capitalization peaked at $4.56 billion before plummeting to $257 million within 11 hours of trading on decentralized exchanges.

This crash followed Milei sharing a website and token contract for Libra on X, framing it as a "private project" to boost Argentina's economy.

Milei later deleted the post, blaming political opponents.

"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," Milei said.

Blockchain analysis firm Bubblemaps had warned that 82% of Libra's supply was unlocked and sellable from the start, and the project shared no tokenomics information.

Blockchain analysts have since uncovered links between Libra and other dubious crypto projects, including Melania Trump's token.

Chaofan Shou, co-founder of Fuzzland, alleged that Libra's market maker, operating out of Delhi, was also involved with the MELANIA meme coin.

Dave Portnoy, founder of Barstool Sports, said he returned 6 million Libra tokens to founder Hayden Davis after Davis told Portnoy not to disclose he was compensated for promoting the token.