$99m worth of crypto withdrawn in Milei-linked LIBRA scandal

Blockchain researchers have claimed around $99 million worth of cryptocurrency was withdrawn, directly related to the Libra scandal involving Argentina’s President Javier Milei.

Eight digital wallets linked to the crypto token’s creator have been identified as the recipients of the assets, by Chainanalysis. 

The coin known as $LIBRA was promoted on the X account of President Milei, contributing to its rise, before the post was deleted and discredited just hours later. 

This resulted in the value of the token plummeting, leaving investors reeling with millions of dollars in losses.

In response, lawyers in Argentina have filed fraud cases against Milei to directly implicate him, but his office has dismissed notions he was directly involved with the development or promotion of the crypto coin. 

While a federal judge is presiding over the case, Chainanalysis has stated the eight accounts withdrew the $99 million worth of tokens from $LIBRAs liquidity pool, basically a marketplace where people can trade.

The identity of the holders has not been determined, but the researchers are adamant the wallets had received tokens directly from the creator of $LIBRA.

They told Reuters, “The on-chain behavior suggests that these addresses are closely related to the Libra creator team based on the fact that those addresses were funded directly from the Libra token creator.” 

On Friday 14th, Argentina's President Milei tweeted about the $LIBRA coin, encouraging his followers to buy it on the grounds that it would “help fund small businesses and start-ups”. As if that weren’t enough, he shared a link for people to buy it online. Naturally, within a few… pic.twitter.com/bC0i1e0SJ1

— Yanis Varoufakis (@yanisvaroufakis) February 19, 2025

Despite the sharp decline in the price of $LIBRA, another analytics firm said wallets that withdrew tokens from the marketplace “still hold a combined value of about $87 million”.

Nansen conveyed “it is fair to say that there is still a lot of money in the hands of those related to the Libra launch,” adding that 70% of wallets trading $LIBRA lost funds from Sunday to Tuesday, in recent days.

Hayden Davis, who developed the token with KIP Protocol denied that the situation was an elaborate rug-pull – when an attractive crypto coin is launched enticing plenty of investor funding, only to pull out once the funds become overpriced rendering the token virtually worthless.

“It’s not a rug. It’s a plan gone miserably wrong with $100 million sitting in an account that I’m the custodian of,” Davis told crypto YouTuber  “Coffeezilla”, real name Stephen Findeisen.

Image credit: Grok/X

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