Argentina President Milei Denies Promoting LIBRA Meme Coin

Argentina’s President Javier Milei spoke about the LIBRA meme coin for the first time since the high-profile scandal made news on Saturday. 

In an exclusive interview with national news outlet Todo Noticias, Milei said he only disseminated the project– but denied having promoted it.

Milei mentioned meeting Hayden Davis, the CEO of LIBRA’s market maker, at the Tech Forum in October 2024. Hayden claims to be Milei’s advisor for this project. 

On Friday, February 14, Milei endorsed the token in a tweet shortly after its launch. This saw the LIBRA meme coin reach a market cap of over $4 billion. 

However, insiders suddenly cashed out over $100 million in profits, which saw the token drop in a straight line like a rug pull. This caused Milei to delete his tweet. 

Now, in today’s interview, Milei says he never promoted LIBRA. The president claims he shared it just in good faith, just like he shares about other tech projects.

“I shared this the same way I’ve shared hundreds of things. My tweet came just three minutes after the coin was created because I’m passionate about these things and found out about it. These are volatility traders who knew what they were doing.” Milei said. 

Milei seemed collected during the interview, starting off by saying that he had nothing to hide. When asked why he promoted the token, Milei responded:

“I didn’t promote it, I disseminated it.”

However, referring to the scandal, he said:

“It was a slap in the face.”

Though he didn’t refer to it as a mistake, Milei said that he had something to learn from the experience. Referring to himself and his sister Karina Milei, the presidency’s Secretary General, Milei said:

“We clearly cannot continue living as we did before and allow everyone to access us. I need to understand that after becoming president, I continued acting like the same Javier Milei as before.”

Milei said that moving forward, he will start to filter out the people who have access to him.

Argentinians Did Not Lose Money, the President Claims

Milei explained that his initial tweet endorsing LIBRA stemmed from a belief it could help Argentine entrepreneurs. He hoped it would provide access to funding for their startups, especially for those lacking access to traditional capital markets.

When rumors began spreading that Milei’s account had been hacked, the president decided to pin the tweet to demonstrate that he was managing his own X account. Later seeing the negative comments, he decided to delete it.

Most notably, he claims that only a few Argentinians lost money in the LIBRA meme coin scandal. He emphasized that most traders were Americans and Chinese.

“Did the State lose money? No. Did Argentinians lose money? Maybe four or five at most. The vast majority of investors are Chinese and American.”

Though reports indicate that around 40,000 investors traded the Libra token, Milei says that number is false. According to him, only around 5,000 investors participated in the market.

Milei also denied misleading investors, arguing that experienced crypto traders populated the Libra market.

“Those who entered were volatility traders. They knew very well what they were getting into,” Milei said.

At the same time, Milei admitted that he wasn’t an expert in cryptocurrency. He also spoke of his relationship with Hayden Mark Davis, CEO of Kelsier Ventures.

Hayden Davis Met With the President At Least 10 Times

Kelsier Ventures was discovered to be the main entity that spread the LIBRA meme coin. In his interview, Milei explained that he met Davis at the Argentina Tech Forum in Buenos Aires in October 2024.

Mauricio Novelli, a professional trader and a friend of Milei’s for many years, connected the two. 

According to local reports, Davis has visited the president’s office, known as the Casa Rosada, and the president’s residence, known as the Quinta de Olivos, at least ten times since the Argentine Tech Forum.

It was during one of those meetings that Davis discussed the project with Milei.

“David proposed that I create a structure that funds projects for Argentine entrepreneurs,” Milei said during the interview. 

Milei added that he decided to publish the tweet because he thought the project was interesting and because he was a technological enthusiast. 

“My fanaticism for technology made me spread the word as soon as it was made public,” Milei said during the interview. 

Before the interview ended, Milei addressed the Argentine people directly. He stated that he had always acted in good faith and would continue to do so.

The Fallout Continues

Since the Libra scandal broke on February 14, over 100 criminal complaints have been brought against President Milei and different actors allegedly involved in the fallout. Lawmakers from opposition parties have added that they will pursue an impeachment.

Today, US prosecutors have been informed that they may have jurisdiction over charges against Milei or other figures involved with the LIBRA meme coin scandal. The case directly implicates Davis, an American citizen who brazenly admitted to criminal actions in a recent interview.

A day after the LIBRA launch, Milei presented himself before Argentina’s Office of Anti-Corruption, instructing it to investigate whether any member of the government, including himself, engaged in inappropriate behavior.

Milei denied being bribed to promote the LIBRA meme coin during the interview. He also strayed from going into details about his view of Davis’s role in the Libra launch. 

Instead, Milei repeated that Justice needed to carry out its due diligence to verify whether any of Milei’s cabinet members were involved. The president added that, to his knowledge, none were implicated.

Milei emphasized that all crypto market activity is recorded on the blockchain. He added that this record should expedite the Justice Department’s investigation into the scandal.