This week, Argentina's President Javier Milei is being accused of playing a crucial role in a 'crypto' rug pull. On February 14, the president tweeted about a project called $LIBRA
Argentina’s President Accused of Role in ‘Crypto’ Rug Pull President Milei Tweeted About $LIBRA Token, Which Crashed 70% Within an HourInvestors Filed Lawsuits, Accusing Milei, Token Team of Fraud
What Happened: On February 14, Milei tweeted about a project called $LIBRA, sharing details of the project, its website, and its contract number so that potential investors could locate the token and “support” the initiative.
However, any “support” would have been extremely short-lived. Within 45 minutes of Milei’s tweet, the price of $LIBRA skyrocketed, peaking at $5.54 per token. The first buyer purchased $LIBRA at around $0.21 per token, but just 37 minutes later, that buyer dumped most of their tokens, raking in a net profit of $6.5 million.
The massive sell-off in a relatively small liquidity pool sent the market into freefall, with $LIBRA crashing 70% within an hour, plummeting from $4.74 to $1.44. It was later discovered that a significant number of profitable trades on the $LIBRA token came from the token’s development team, which not only led to fraud accusations against Milei, but insider trading accusations against the token’s launch team as well.
Once the token collapsed, Milei deleted his tweet and claimed, “I was not informed of the fine details of the project and after learning, I decided not to continue spreading it (that’s why I deleted the tweet).” But by that point, the damage was done. The token was already dead due to liquidity issues, and lawsuits soon followed.
Investors targeted the development team and any high-profile individuals tied to the launch—including the President of Argentina himself, accusing him of fraud and playing a central role in what turned out to be a pump-and-dump scheme.
Unfortunately, as of 2025, this incident isn’t an outlier, and I actually think it’s indicative of what we will see more of in the short term; high-profile figures and celebrities are increasingly launching tokens, most branded as “memecoins,” that ultimately function as short-term pump and dumps. The winners are always insider traders and those who buy early and sell fast, while the losers are the majority of retail investors who are left holding the bag.
And because the U.S. is taking a hands-off approach to ‘crypto’ regulation, particularly with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) scaling back enforcement efforts, North America is becoming the perfect location for this type of fraud to proliferate.
