Argentine President Javier Milei is in the midst of a huge cryptocurrency scandal, of his own making, which in the space of 48 hours, beginning at 7 p.m. on Feb. 14, has destabilized his presidency, made him the target of over 112 federal criminal suits, multiple calls for his impeachment, while his name is being plastered all over global media. This is not a good place to be for the man who calls himself “the best President in Argentina’s history,” who thinks he should be awarded the Nobel Prize in economics. In the midst of the nation’s dire economic crisis, he’s scheduled to travel to Washington at the end of this week to plead with Donald Trump to help him secure a large IMF loan—not likely.
On the evening of Feb. 14, Milei posted on X and Instagram a message backing the launch of the $LIBRA crypto token, praising it as the “LongLiveFreedomProject” which he vowed would raise money for Argentine small businesses, startups, etc. and provide evidence of the success of “liberal Argentina.” That the President of the nation was promoting this quickly attracted investors and LIBRA’s market value rose to $6 billion in four hours before it abruptly crashed, causing losses estimated at $4 billion. By 11 p.m., Milei deleted his social media posts, explaining he hadn’t been “fully informed” of the plan’s details, but after informing himself, he withdrew his support. He had already violated Argentina’s public ethics law which prohibits a state officeholder from promoting private investments.
