Argentinian President Javier Milei has found himself embroiled in controversy as he refutes any involvement in the alleged scam surrounding the LIBRA memecoin. The digital asset, which tumbled by a staggering 96% within a mere seven hours of its launch, saw a market cap erosion of over $4 billion.
Coming forward on platform X, the President adamantly stated that he had no ties to the LIBRA project team. He further emphasized that he ceased promoting the memecoin as soon as he was made “cognizant of its intricacies.”
Allegations of $87M Profit by LIBRA Team
An in-depth investigative report by Bubblemaps shed light on the dubious activities of the LIBRA team, revealing that internal members cashed in a total of $87 million, acting as the sole sellers of the token. A snippet of the report emphasized,
“$LIBRA has seen an 85% decline due to developers siphoning $87M from the market. There is an additional $500M in potential sell-off.”
The sell-off orchestrated by insiders exacerbated the downward spiral of the memecoin, resulting in LIBRA’s market capitalization plummeting from over $3 billion to under $200 million at the time of reporting. The trajectory mirrored the fate of other “presidential memecoins” like those introduced by the Central African Republic and Donald Trump.
In a remarkable turn of events, the TRUMP memecoin, launched in mid-January, peaked at a market cap of $15 billion only to endure an 80% crash shortly after, leading to a $2 billion loss for investors.
Subsequently, President Faustin Archange of the Central African Republic jumped on the bandwagon in February by introducing the CAR memecoin. The token swiftly plummeted by 98%, shrinking from a market size of $1 billion to under $20 million in less than a week.
The uncanny resemblance and sizable value depletion across these memecoins have sparked conjectures of potential involvement by influential ‘grifters.’ Notably, Argentinian crypto expert Alex Kruger went as far as labeling the LIBRA project as a ‘state-backed illicit scheme.’
As of the latest figures, LIBRA is currently trading at $0.16, marking a 96% decline from its peak value of $4.56.