Javier Milei's memecoin scandal

The president of Argentina is facing legal action and calls for his impeachment after he promoted cryptocurrency on social media.

Javier Milei's controversial post "caused a political firestorm", said The New York Times, with opponents describing him as a "crypto scammer".

'Rug pull'

On Friday, Milei, a former private sector economist, posted on X about the $LIBRA coin which he promised would help fund small businesses and start-ups.

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He shared a link to buy it, causing its price to "shoot up", said the BBC, but within a few hours, he deleted the post and the cryptocurrency "nosedived" in value, meaning investors lost most of their money.

He's been accused of a "rug pull" – where promoters of a cryptocurrency deliberately "draw in buyers", only to stop trading activity and "make off with the money raised from sales", said the broadcaster. But Argentina's presidential office insisted that the decision to remove the post was to avoid "speculation" following public reaction to the post.

"Few Argentines" were financially affected by the currency's crash, said the Financial Times, because analysis of X posts suggested most $LIBRA buyers were in the US and Asia, but the episode has still caused a headache for him at home.

'Slap in the face'

In a television interview, Milei said the scandal was a "slap in the face", and he described himself as a "techno-optimist" who was just trying to "help fund Argentine projects". Lashing out at political opponents who had criticised him, he said that "every day they confirm how lowly politicians are".

The "most interesting lesson" of the scandal, said Milei, is that "I need to put up more filters", adding that "it can't be so easy for people to reach me". So the president who is "reported to spend hours a day on X" might be "forced to become a little quieter", said The Spectator.

His opponents "appear unlikely" to secure the two-thirds majority needed in congress to impeach him, because centrist blocs said they won't support the proposal, but analysts said investigations into the president could "nonetheless weigh on his approval ratings", said the FT.

In the "medium to long term" this episode will "stain the president's credibility", Marcelo García, from the consultancy Horizon Engage, told the newspaper, particularly because he "brags about his abilities as an economist".