Argentine President Javier Milei Briefly Promoted a Crypto Token Meant to Support Local Businesses, Only to Delete the Post Hours Later After Public Outcry Over Potential Fraud

On Friday, Milei took to X (formerly Twitter) to endorse the LIBRA token, claiming it would raise funds for small and medium-sized businesses in Argentina.

Argentine President Javier Milei has briefly promoted a crypto token designed to support local businesses, before deleting the post hours later amid public outcry over potential fraud.

On Friday, Milei took to X (formerly Twitter) to endorse the LIBRA token, which he said aimed to raise funds for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Argentina. He noted that the project was privately run and that he had no personal financial interest in it.

However, his post quickly raised eyebrows, with some wondering if his account had been hacked or if he had fallen victim to a crypto scam without realizing it.

The name of the LIBRA token appeared to be a reference to Milei’s political party, ‘La Libertad Avanza’, or his libertarian economic philosophy. He later told Bloomberg that he had met with the creators of the token, KIP Protocol, several months ago.

A blog post on the company’s website even featured a selfie of its co-founder with Milei, which was said to have been taken on October 20.

“A few hours ago I posted a tweet, like countless other times, supporting an alleged private initiative that I obviously have no connection to,” a translation of part of Milei’s post reads.

“I was not fully aware of the details of the project and after learning more about it, I decided to stop giving it my support.”

As skepticism grew, X’s community notes flagged warnings about the coin, pointing out that crypto scams, especially “rug pulls”, are very common online.

Five hours after his initial post, Milei removed it, explaining that he was “not aware of the details of the project” and chose to stop promoting it once he learned more.

“The world wants to invest in Argentina,” Milei concluded his now-deleted crypto post. “Long live freedom, damn it.”

Despite being favored by Wall Street, Milei has struggled to attract foreign investment into Argentina. His administration is making progress in taming inflation and pushing pro-business policies, but the country’s complex currency controls are still holding things back.

The country’s economy is now expected to bounce back in 2025 after two rough years of recession.

Compounding Milei’s challenges, U.S. tariffs imposed by Donald Trump could disproportionately affect Argentina. In other news, Nissan is scaling back production in the country, while Mercedes-Benz is exiting Argentina after 70 years.

The country’s key agricultural trade route, the Rio Paraná, is also facing setbacks after the government canceled a dredging auction due to a lack of bids.