Argentina’s President Javier Milei created a political fire after his approval, and then quickly fell into the spotlight.
Milei said in a post on social media on Friday night that the coin, called $ libra, will stimulate the economy and help small businesses grow. Although the sudden attention gave the token an initial boost, the huge gains were eliminated due to fear of the coin being a scam.
Five hours later, Mr. Miley deleted the position, which was on his personal account and attempted to distance himself from the joint venture. He wrote on X: “I was not familiar with the details of the project and after notifying myself, I decided not to continue spreading it (that’s why I deleted this tweet).
On Saturday night, in another post on X’s official presidential account X, his initial recognition of the coins was described as a regular promotion Business. It also said the president has begun investigating whether anyone in his administration, including himself, has acted improperly and whether anyone involved in the coins violated the law.
Mr. Miley is under fire for apparently pushing people to venture capital. His initial post also prompted a comparison with President Trump, who launched a memorial to $$ Trump last month. The token soared for a while and then crashed.
A central left-wing coalition against Miley’s liberal government called his cryptocurrency “an unprecedented scandal.” Another political group said it was seeking to establish a committee in Congress to investigate what was going on.
Former President Cristina Fernández De Kirchner, Mr. Miley’s main political rival, said thousands of people who trust him lost millions of dollars, “although many people have emerged due to privileged information. Destiny.”
Mr. Milei’s promotion to $libra is just the latest in a series of moves he has been in parallel with Mr. Trump. Mr Miley, who withdrew from the World Health Organization earlier this month, said his staff said the government was reviewing whether to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.
The coins promoted by Mr. Miley are used as a investment vehicle that is beneficial to the country.
In his initial post on X, he said $libra (with the name of his party La Libertad Avanza) would “inspire growth in the Argentina economy and fund small companies and Argentina venture capital.”
“The liberal Argentina is growing!!!” added Mr. Miley: “The world wants to invest in Argentina.”
Soon after, community notes about X warned users to be cautious about $libra. It urges people to “verify before interacting with the project” because the behavior consistently “pulls the carpet.” The term refers to a scam that creates crypto tokens, attracts investors and then disappears suddenly, and then withdraws all the money.
Shortly after midnight, Mr. Miley deleted his post. He later said that he had no personal contact with the cryptocurrency. He spoke out to his critics, who said he was trying to earn political points.
“What I want to say is that they confirm every day how low politicians are,” he said.
In a Saturday night post, Mr. Miley
Describe his promotion of coins as a routine, likening it to his “daily” announcement about entrepreneurs who want to create jobs in Argentina. He added that he had two meetings on coins last October, another one in January, but was not involved in its development.
Agustín Pantano, a 28-year-old lawyer and Miley supporter, said he had jumped on $libra due to the president’s initial post on X.
At 1 a.m., he checked his phone and found that he had lost 90% of the $150 he had invested.
“There are a few red flags, which is why I only invest a little bit of money,” Pantano said.
