$Libra Coin Promoted by Argentina's President Crashes by 95% Within a Few Hours

Argentina's President Javier Milei recently promoted the cryptocurrency $Libra on social platform X; within hours, its market capitalization soared to $4.56 billion before crashing 95%.

Following the incident, the politician deleted his post and admitted that he "was not aware of the project's details", while the opposition accused him of fraud.

On February 14, 2025, Javier Milei posted on his X social media account the crypto address for $Libra on the Solana network, claiming:

"This is a private project aimed at stimulating Argentina’s economic growth" (quoted from Coindesk).

Subsequently, the market capitalization of the coin, launched just minutes before Milei’s post, climbed to $4.5 billion. At its peak on February 15, the price reached more than $4 per coin, according to data from Geckoterminal. However, the token soon plummeted by 95% to a market cap of $85 million.
Lookonchain, an analytical service that reviewed $Libra transactions, reported that the collapse was triggered by the transfer of $107 million in USDC to eight wallets linked to the project team.
The token's promotion was visible on Milei’s account for several hours. Some speculated that the Argentine President's profile had been hacked.
However, Milei soon stated that he had made the post himself. According to him, he was not affiliated with $Libra’s creators and was unaware of the project details; upon learning more, he chose not to promote it further. The President also directed the anti-corruption agency to investigate his actions for potential misconduct.
Representatives from several opposition parties in the Argentine Parliament accused the President of fraud, stating that he had discredited himself. Media reports suggest that the scandal could even lead to Milei's impeachment.

In January 2025 — two days before taking office as the President of the USA — Donald Trump launched his own meme coin. Its record price reached $75.32. Within a day, it dropped by 30%, and at the time of writing, it is valued at $17.59.

Skeptics and critics argued that Trump is undermining the already imperfect reputation of the often volatile crypto market and attempting to profit from those who are inexperienced with cryptocurrency. In part, fraudsters have created fake sites about Trump’s tokens to steal seed phrases from crypto wallets.

At the beginning of February, Reuters discovered that the companies behind Trump’s meme coin made $86-94 million in trading commissions over the token in 19 days. According to Chainalysis, 813,000 crypto wallets collectively “lost” more than $2 billion on the coin.

Source: Artur Tomilko