Argentina’s President Javier Milei Denies Promoting Controversial Libra Token That Lost 94% of Its Value

In his first public comments on the issue, Milei told Todo Noticias on February 17, “I did not promote that. What I did, I spread the word.”

Argentine President Javier Milei has denied any wrongdoing in promoting the Solana-based Libra token, which quickly lost 94% of its value, sparking multiple fraud suits and calls for his impeachment.

In his first public comments on the issue, Milei told Todo Noticias on February 17, “I did not promote that. What I did, I spread the word.”

The trouble began when Milei posted about the token on X on February 14, causing its market cap to surge to $4.56 billion. However, when Milei deleted the post, the token's value plummeted.

The incident has led to accusations of a pump-and-dump scheme, with some alleging that Milei was paid to promote the token. However, the president has denied these claims, stating that he acted in “good faith” and had “nothing to hide.”

According to the libertarian leader, the consequences of the token launch should remain within the boundaries of those who participated. He downplayed the role of the state and claimed that most of the 44,000 impacted investors were likely bots, adding, “The best case scenario is 5,000 people” were actually affected.

María Fernanda Juppet, CEO of Argentine exchange CryptoMKT, believes the scandal won't harm crypto adoption in the country. She explained that most transactions are already done using dollarized digital currencies, making the issue more of a political discussion than a rejection of crypto technology.

Meanwhile, KIP Protocol, which met Milei before the token's launch, denied involvement in the creation of Libra, further distancing itself from the debacle.