Javier Milie, the president of Argentina is enduring heavy criticism and potential impeachment for his involvement in a rug pull project. In the last few days, the South American country and its president have been generating huge attention for the sudden rise and downfall of LIBRA.
In the Argentine Congress, Claudio Lozano is leading a group agitating for the impeachment of the president. Despite evidence indicating his connection with LIBRA, Milie firmly denied his involvement in the development of the project.
So far, LIBRA wiped out $4.4 billion from the cryptocurrency market, triggering political turmoil in Argentina. This article aims to dissect the advent of the dubious project that has flung the future of celebrity meme coins in doubt.
The inception of the crisis
The controversy started on February 14, 2025, when LIBRA made an intruding entry into the cryptocurrency space. During a massive but short-lived price rally, the meme coin gained up to $4.56 billion in market capitalization.
However, reports indicated that the LIBRA recorded the eye-catching run shortly after Argentina’s president, Javier Milie promoted the meme coin on his social media page. In a now-deleted post on X, Javier Milie branded LIBRA as a private project commissioned to encourage the growth of the South American country.
Further, the president described the token as a means of supporting start-ups in Argentina. With backing from an influential figure like Millie, investors swiftly scooped the meme coin, supporting the price to rally enormously.
The statement also convinced investors to spend heavily on LIBRA as Milie narrated that an investment in the token will support the country’s economy to grow. Surprisingly, LIBRA began to tank in less than 11 hours after landing on decentralized exchanges.
By that, the meme coin lost more than 94% of its market valuation, dropping to a significantly low $257 million. In reaction, investors accused Javier Milie of promoting a fraudulent project that inflicted huge losses on investors.
Key Insights From LIBRA Rug Pull
According to investigation, the LIBRA rug pull has various patterns of fraud, insider trading, and strong links to developers of fraudulent crypto projects. According to blockchain analytics, investors lost more than $4.4 billion to the crisis.
The analysis pointed out how a combined 74,000 investors lost $286 million to the rug pull. More insightful analysis revealed how 24 unique addresses suffered a massive loss of more than 1 million each.
Additionally, 61 wallets gave up above $500,000 to the scandalous project promoted by Javier Milie. 8 addresses connected with the LIBRA development team cashed out $107 million from the loot.
Shocking discoveries amidst the meltdown include how the team began pulling funds out of the project just 3 hours into its debut. The massive cash out according to emerging details triggered the huge downturn.
The massive dip compelled Milie to issue a statement on February 16, denying his involvement in the project. More so, the president admitted his early support for LIBRA but denied having a private connection with the company behind the token.
Parting Words
Without a doubt, the LIBRA rug pull is screaming the vulnerability of investors in the cryptocurrency landscape to dubious projects. Lately, a host of celebrity-themed meme coins including TRUMP, MELANIA, RNT, JASON, and many others have stormed the crypto market.
The majority of the tokens leveraged the popularity of their themed celebrity to attract investors before going downhill. Emerging pointers suggest how scammers are liaising with popular individuals to promote their meme coins.
Investors mostly end up with fraudulent tokens due to market euphoria and launching frenzy surrounding the meme coins. Investigation disclosed that LIBRA is connected to Arunkumar Sugadevan, the Indian blockchain expert behind popular fraudulent projects including MELANIA.
An address connected to the developer recorded a massive profit of $2.4 million by sniping the meme coins early. The revelation indicates a growing trend of scammers using celebrities to pump meme coins before pulling out.
TRUMP and MELANIA, just like LIBRA, claimed more than $4 billion from investors. The amount of investment the crypto market has lost to celebrity meme coins in recent times is alarming.
This unwanted trend cast deep shadows over the future of meme coins, posing a huge threat to their market acceptance.
Read More :