Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, by promoting the launch of a cryptocurrency by a private company triggered a new political crisis in the country, forcing him to announce an investigation against himself.
The episode that part of the Argentine press is dealing with “Crypto Gate” involves the suspicion of federal government officials, including the president himself, in alleged irregularities involving the creation of $ Libra, a cryptocurrency that, according to Milei, would help finance small Argentine companies and enterprises.
The criticism and reactions to Milei’s initiative were built after the Argentine president published, on social networks, a text supporting the Viva La Libertad project, which is headed for the launch of $ Libra.
As soon as the president made public his support for the initiative, the value of digital assets fired, valuing himself exponentially. The few cryptocurrency holders then began to sell it, with very high profits. However, the value of $ Libra fell again as soon as experts and oppositionists Milei began to point out the risk of fraud in the enterprise.
The Argentine president’s first reaction was to erase the promotional publication of his X (former Twitter) account, replacing it with a new message in which he claimed to have no bond with the “supposed private enterprise”, of which he did not know the “details ”.
The clarification did not contain the escalation of the crisis, to the point of the newspaper La Nacion, one of the most influential in the country, report that the “Scandal $ Libra opened a box of Pandora”with accusations that people close to Milei would have requested personal advantages to entrepreneurs in exchange to franchise access to the Argentine president.
Pressured, the Argentine government announced two measures. In one official note Disclosure on Saturday (15), Milei’s team reported that the president determined to the anti -corruption office to find out if any member of the national government, including himself, acted improperly. In addition, Milei reported that, within the presidency itself, a task force consisting of representatives of various organs and organizations interested in the theme to evaluate the Viva La Libertad project, at $ Libra and all companies or people involved with the project. The initiative.
Also in the note, Milei’s team clarifies that the president’s first contact with the representatives of the company responsible for $ Libra took place on October 19, 2024, during a meeting in which the entrepreneurs commented on the intention to “develop a project to finance enterprises private in Argentina using blockchain technology ”. The public meeting was duly registered on Milei’s agenda, according to his team.
About two and a half months later, on January 30 this year, at the suggestion of the same entrepreneurs, Milei met with the partner of the venture that would provide all the necessary technological infrastructure.
“Finally, this Friday, the president [Milei] He shared a publication in his personal accounts communicating the launch of the project, as he does everyday regarding many entrepreneurs who want to launch a project to create jobs and invest in Argentina, ”adds the team of Argentina’s chief executive, in the note, the team of the head of the chief executive, reaffirming that he did not participate in the creation and development of cryptocurrency.
“Faced with the repercussions [negativas] that the announcement of the project generated, to avoid any speculation and not to give more publicity [à iniciativa], [o presidente argentino] decided to eliminate the publication [de sua conta pessoal no X]”, Concludes the presidential team, ensuring that all information on the subject gathered by the anti-corruption office and the task force that will be created will be sent to court,“ to determine whether any company or person linked to the project has committed any offenses ”.
On the morning of this Sunday, representatives of two social organizations (Observatory of the right to the city and movement the city are the ones who inhabit it) and a political party (popular unit) filed a complaint against the Argentine president, whom they accuse of harming more than 40,000 people when Associating with a scheme that, according to the complainants, would have caused a loss of $ 4 billion.
