{"id":13943,"date":"2025-02-18T01:32:17","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T01:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inbudgetalerts.com\/?p=13943"},"modified":"2025-02-18T01:32:18","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T01:32:18","slug":"memecoin-scandal-rocks-argentinas-javier-milei","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inbudgetalerts.com\/?p=13943","title":{"rendered":"Memecoin scandal rocks Argentina\u2019s Javier Milei"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__content-sign-up-topic-description\"><span>Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe class=\"article__content-sign-up-iframe close\" scrolling=\"no\" id=\"signUpIframe\" data-prev-url=\"\/register\/in-article-sign-up?ft-content-uuid=27bcc19e-d422-4fac-ac08-5b76c1095e52\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p>Argentina\u2019s libertarian president Javier Milei has been buffeted by a scandal over his promotion of a memecoin that soared in value before collapsing, triggering impeachment calls and lawsuits.<\/p>\n<p>Milei promoted a cryptocurrency called $LIBRA on X on Friday night, which had begun trading minutes earlier. Its value quickly soared above $4 before falling below 50 cents. <\/p>\n<p>Buyers accused the coin\u2019s creators of a possible \u201crug pull\u201d scheme, where the cryptocurrency\u2019s initial investors lure in others to inflate its price before quickly withdrawing their funds.<\/p>\n<p>Political opponents have filed dozens of lawsuits accusing Milei of ethics violations, while the main leftwing Peronist opposition bloc said it would launch impeachment proceedings and accused him of \u201cparticipation in a crypto fraud\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>In a television interview on Monday, Milei said the scandal, which analysts said was the biggest crisis for his administration since he took office in December 2023, was a \u201cslap in the face\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m a techno-optimist\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009and this was proposed to me as an instrument to help fund Argentine projects,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s true that in trying to help out those Argentines, I took a slap in the face.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Milei\u2019s office said that the president had twice met representatives of the companies involved in the coin\u2019s creation but \u201cwas not involved at any point\u201d in its development. <\/p>\n<p>The president had asked the executive branch\u2019s anti-corruption office to investigate if there was any wrongdoing by himself or any government actor, it added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe most interesting lesson is that\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009I need to put up more filters, it can\u2019t be so easy for people to reach me,\u201d Milei said in the interview.<\/p>\n<p>Analysts said the episode risked undermining trust in Milei, a former private sector economist. He has tamed Argentina\u2019s inflation crisis through a sweeping austerity programme and forged high-profile alliances with tech leaders in Argentina and the US.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the medium to long term this is going to stain the president\u2019s credibility, [even if] it was an [honest] mistake, given that he brags about his abilities as an economist,\u201d said Marcelo Garc\u00eda, Americas director at consultancy Horizon Engage.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor foreign investors this will feed doubts that already existed about the government\u2019s political capacity and raise fears that unforced errors can jeopardise his reform programme,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p>Argentina\u2019s stock market fell more than 5 per cent on Monday, while the peso ticked down 2 per cent against the dollar on a crucial parallel exchange market.<\/p>\n<p>Few Argentines were financially affected by the coin\u2019s crash, with the country\u2019s fintech chamber saying analysis of X posts suggested most $LIBRA buyers were in the US and Asia. They added that the coin had never been listed on the exchanges used by the \u201cvast majority\u201d of Argentine crypto users.<\/p>\n<p>Milei\u2019s opponents appear unlikely to secure the two-thirds majority needed in congress to impeach the president, with centrist blocs saying they would not support the proposal.<\/p>\n<p>The mainstream rightwing PRO, an ally of Milei\u2019s upstart La Libertad Avanza coalition, said the episode was \u201cserious\u201d because it involved \u201cthe country\u2019s credibility\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009and the president\u2019s entourage\u201d but accused leftwing leaders of \u201cpolitical opportunism\u201d in calling for his ousting.<\/p>\n<p>But analysts said investigations into the president could nonetheless weigh on his approval ratings, which have hovered at about 50 per cent over the past year, as Argentina gears up for legislative elections in October.<\/p>\n<p>Juan Cruz D\u00edaz, managing director at the Cefeidas Group, a consultancy in Buenos Aires, said the scandal threatened to weaken the minority government\u2019s negotiating position in congress, where it is attempting to pass an electoral reform bill.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s the first significant crisis the government has faced,\u201d he said. \u201cIt has room to manoeuvre [but] it will be crucial how it manages the situation in the coming days and weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Read the full article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/27bcc19e-d422-4fac-ac08-5b76c1095e52\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" rel=\"nofollow\">here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Argentina\u2019s libertarian&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13944,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13943","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Memecoin scandal rocks Argentina\u2019s Javier Milei | InBudgetAlerts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Argentina\u2019s libertarian\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/inbudgetalerts.com\/?p=13943\" 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