A cryptocurrency named LIBRA, purportedly launched by Argentinian President Javier Milei, experienced a dramatic surge and collapse last Friday. It briefly reached a market capitalization of $4.5 billion before plummeting 96%, leading to a chaotic weekend. This episode exposed alleged insider trading and caused significant public embarrassment on an “international scale.”

President Milei had initially promoted the LIBRA crypto token as a means to finance small businesses and startups and boost Argentina’s economy. However, he later deleted his promotional post and disavowed any connection to the project, stating he was unaware of its specifics.

Since these initial events, numerous developments have unfolded.

Opposition politicians in Argentina are reportedly seeking to impeach Milei following what they describe as an embarrassing “scandal” with international repercussions. Various legal professionals are initiating legal actions against Milei, with accusations ranging from fraud to price manipulation.

Hayden Davis, a man who appears to have played a central role in the token’s team, has become a focal point of criticism. In an interview with Coffeezilla, Davis confessed that the team engaged in sniping LIBRA tokens at launch. He also claimed to possess over $100 million in profits generated from the token launch.

Other admissions made by Hayden Davis.

Read more: Argentina’s leading presidential candidate sued for alleged crypto scam

Davis also admitted his involvement in the launch of MELANIA, a memecoin associated with Trump. BubbleMaps, an analyst firm, has since established links between the teams responsible for both the LIBRA and MELANIA tokens.

The AI/Web3 company KIP protocol is also facing increased scrutiny. Argentina’s Presidential Office claimed that the LIBRA token was a product of KIP Protocol and that they held two meetings with its representatives.

KIP Protocol has since countered by denying the official account of one of these meetings and distancing itself from the subsequent meeting with Davis. The company issued a statement asserting that it “did not initiate the project, it did not manage or direct the token launch process, and it did not receive any tokens pre or post-launch, and it did not profit from the token launch.”

STATEMENT

(the following statement was drafted with help of legal counsel)

On 16 Feb 2025, the Office of the Presidency of the Argentine Republic released a statement (the “Statement”) in relation to the ‘Viva La Liberdad’ Project (the “Project”).

The Statement contains…

— KIP Protocol (@KIPprotocol) February 17, 2025
KIP Protocol’s statement.

Read more: Javier Milei fails to stop inflation in Argentina with bitcoin or anything else

According to Jupiter Exchange, the launch of LIBRA was widely known within memecoin communities. Lookonchain reports that 11 wallets with insider knowledge profited $43.8 million through trading the token.

It is also reported that Davis sent millions of LIBRA tokens to Dave Portnoy, host of Barstool Sports, to promote the project. Portnoy returned the tokens but still traded LIBRA, incurring a $5.34 million loss due to purchasing it after the initial surge. Davis reportedly reimbursed Portnoy for his losses.

Source: protos.com