Argentina President Faces Impeachment After Promoting Cryptocurrency
The Argentine President, Javier Milei is facing calls for impeachment after promoting a little-known cryptocurrency, whose price soared then collapsed hours after his endorsement, leading to losses for thousands of investors.
The news has caused a major scandal in Argentina, with the opposition party accusing President Milei of promoting a scam.
Milei Impact On The cryptocurrency
It started with a tweet posted by the president on his X account, which has more than 3.8 million followers.
“This private project will be dedicated to encouraging the growth of the Argentine economy,” he wrote, with a link to the $LIBRA cryptocurrency project.
Hours after posting the cryptocurrency, Milei deleted the message and made another post claiming he had no ties to the initiative.
“I was not aware of the details of the project and after having become aware of it I decided not to continue spreading it,” he said. Milei’s team described the incident as a mistake.
The presidency on Saturday announced an investigation into the matter, saying the president has decided to immediately involve the Anti-Corruption Office to determine whether there was improper conduct on the part of any member of the national government, including the president himself.
Upward And Downward Trends In A Matter Of Hours
At the time of its launch, most of the cryptocurrency was held in a few digital wallets, and its price was almost zero. After the president’s post, its price increased rapidly to almost $5, but in less than three hours it plummeted to cents, according to trading application sites.
An expert on crypto security issues, Pablo Sabbatella, made a statement about his observation, he said “The first thing I saw was that the website had been registered yesterday (Friday); (which) is typical of a scam”. He also indicated that the token was created minutes before Milei published the message.
“The whales (large holders of the asset) bought at practically nothing. Then the price flies and when it is up, they sell. It is known as pump and dump; that mechanic happened,” Sabbatella added.
He noted that he saw accounts that bought at very low levels earning more than $4 million in two hours, and one that earned up to $87 million with the sale.
Argentina’s political opposition criticized the president, with the Union for the Homeland coalition announcing on Saturday that it would move forward with a request for impeachment against Milei.
