“A political storm” sums up the Argentinian daily Nación. President Javier Milei faces a delicate episode of his mandate after having made, on Friday, February 14, the promotion of a cryptocurrency which then collapsed, aroused accusations “of crook”, calls to a commission of inquiry, or even a trial. After 24 hours of strong reactions to what the local press has already described as “crypto-scandal”, the presidency tries to extinguish the fire. She announced, Saturday in a press release, to seize the anti -corruption office to identify a possible “inappropriate conduct of a member of the government, including the president”.
While ensuring that Javier Milei “in no way participated in the development” of the cryptocurrency in question, the presidency also revealed “an urgent survey on its launch, and all the companies or people involved”, by a unit of Investigation placed “in the orbit of the presidency”.
The case therefore started on Friday evening. In a message published on social networks, Javier Milei assured that the cryptocurrency in question, called $ libra, “stimulates the growth of the Argentine economy, by funding small businesses and Argentinian entrepreneurs”. The message included a link to a project, all flanked by one of the favorite slogans of the ultra -lover Milei: “Viva la Libertad, Carajo!” (“Long live freedom, brothel!”). “The world wants to invest in Argentina. $ Libra,” concluded the tweet, appointing the cryptocurrency, based on blockchain technology, which is not backed by real money.
“I did not know the details of the project”
Except that the rumor quickly spread that it was a scam. Result: five hours later, Javier Milei deleted the message, which was on his personal account, and tried to dissociate himself from the company. “I did not know the details of the project,” he swore on X, “and after informing myself, I decided not to continue to broadcast it”. Whoever has been in power for 14 months has assured that he had “obviously no link” with the “presumed private enterprise”. Too late: the machine has excited.
“The president has just publicly launched a global scam,” wrote on X Javier Smaldone, a computer scientist and influencer known for his denunciation of Pyramidal scams. According to him, what happened is a “rug sweater” (carpet draw), and the entire operation concerning the $ libra lasted “about two hours”, moving an approximate volume of 4.4 billion dollars. After The Kobeissi Letterreference publication in the global financial markets, around 80 % of $ Libra assets were in the hands of a small group of initiates before the support expressed by Javier Milei.
The ultra -liberal populist head of state therefore finds himself criticized for encouraging Internet users to make a risky investment. A center -left coalition which opposes the libertarian government of Javier Milei described his foray into the cryptocurrency of “unprecedented scandal”. Another political block added that he was trying to create a commission in the congress to investigate what happened.
“Crypto-Arnaque”
Among the voices that were most heard, that of ex-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (2007-2015), the main political opponent of Javier Milei. She castigated the fact that thousands of people – who had trusted her – lost in total millions of dollars, “while many have made a fortune thanks to privileged information”. The septuagenarian nicknamed her successor to “cryptocurrency” acting as “the hook of a digital scam”. “This is your market freedom … that of the casino. Your mask has fallen,” she added on X.
The tone turns out to be more moderate at the Political Schooling Center: MP Maximiliano Ferraro considered that Parliament should “create a special commission of inquiry” in order to “clarify the facts and determine responsibilities”. Note that Javier Milei is not at his first attempt, since he had already been associated, in 2021, with a Crypto firm later targeted by justice.
On the defense side, Francisco Onato, presented in the press as the personal lawyer of Javier Milei, said on X that “the president did not promote anything, he only celebrated the interest of a company for the market Argentinian “for daily life Nación (Conservative), whether by ignorance or worse, the “crypto scandal” leaves Javier Milei “without any explanation that saves his responsibility”.