$Libra cryptocurrency scandal
political scandal involving cryptocurrency
On February 14, 2025, Javier Milei, the president of Argentina, promoted a cryptocurrency project called $LIBRA. The price of the meme coin spiked following Milei's promotion but then suffered a severe price drop, leading to allegations of a rug pull scam and $251 million in losses for investors. This scandal has been dubbed Cryptogate. The Economist called it the "first big scandal" of Milei's presidency.
Background
A week before $LIBRA's launch, Diógenes Casares, co-founder of decentralized finance company Stream Finance, wrote a report mentioning rumors that "a meme coin around Milei [was] being created," including the involvement of bribes. However, he initially thought they were not real. American analyst Nick O'Neill stated that "Javier Milei and his team worked for weeks on launching a token" and claimed "with 100% certainty" that payments were involved in the development and launch of $LIBRA.
On Friday, February 14, 2025, at 6:58 pm Argentina time, the Delaware-registered company Kelsier Ventures created the "$LIBRA" token libra (transl. pound) without publicizing the event, as part of a project called "Viva La Libertad" (transl. Long Live Freedom). The CEO of the company Kelsier Ventures, Hayden Davis, had previously met with Milei at the Presidential Palace in 2024. The one who introduced them was Mauricio Novelli, a young trader who has known Milei since at least 2021 and acted as an advisor to the president. Milei stated that he met the executives of KIP Protocol, who introduced him to the company's project called "Viva La Libertad", which aimed to fund private ventures in Argentina using blockchain technology, a claim later denied by KIP itself.
Key figures under investigation
Mauricio Novelli
Mauricio Novelli, an Argentine based in Buenos Aires, was responsible for introducing key players in the scam with the Milei administration.
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