Earlier today, President Javier Milei from Argentina shared his cryptocurrency project, $LIBRA, through his X account, which turned out to be highly controversial.
According to his statements, the project was identified as an independent platform to facilitate Argentina’s economic expansion. The project caused such a large market decline that it reached $4.4 billion in less than twelve hours, thus creating valid doubts about its reputation.
Source: The Kobeissi Letter
President Miles’s post and market reaction
Through his X social media post, Javier Milei introduced $LIBRA as an initiative that would provide fiscal support to small and startup enterprises in Argentina. His decision to endorse $LIBRA led to rapid market interest from traders and investors.
In the project’s initial hour, concerns arose regarding its authenticity.
Several Argentine politicians decided to spread the news regardless of concerns about the president’s account hacking, which made many people doubt the president’s account had actually been compromised. Analysts and blockchain experts took a closer look at the project and started to question it.
Red flags surrounding $LIBRA
Multiple suspicious features existed on the official $LIBRA website. Users accessing the website were led to a funding application form located on Google Forms while this approach is rarely seen in multi-billion-dollar endeavors. The domain was established only a few hours before project release and had an expiration date one year into the future.
Large investors started liquidating their holdings almost immediately, taking advantage of the surge in interest. Within minutes, insiders reportedly cashed out over $4 million in profits as the coin briefly peaked at a $4.6 billion market cap.
Source: DexScreener
Crash and aftermath
The event took place rapidly and with great force. During three hours, the price of $LIBRA drastically fell from its maximum, inflicting substantial monetary damage. The data on Bubblemaps showed that insiders within the project managed to withdraw $87.4 million by draining project liquidity.