Could a crypto scam sink Milei?

Argentina’s flamboyant libertarian President Javier Milei is at the center of a cryptocurrency scandal that’s already having legal consequences. Whether there will be political consequences remains to be seen.

Milei promoted a new cryptocurrency called $LIBRA on X last Friday, writing in a now-deleted post that the coin was aimed at “encouraging economic growth by funding small businesses and startups.” Milei also shared a link to something called the Viva La Libertad project, which says it launched the coin “in honor of Javier Milei’s libertarian ideas” and “to strengthen the Argentine economy from the ground up by supporting entrepreneurship and innovation.”

During the brief time Milei’s post was up – just a few hours – the coin’s price soared from nothing to about $5 before plummeting to less than a dollar. People who purchased the token at its highest price were left with a near-worthless coin, while some, including the token’s developers, made off with millions. Though Milei’s office denies any involvement in the coin’s creation or launch, a federal court in Argentina has started an investigation into the scandal, and opposition lawmakers are calling for his impeachment.

While Milei remains popular, he has struggled to pass legislation around his slash-and-burn economic agenda, and this scandal could widen the gulf between the president’s supporters and the opposition. Argentina is in the midst of a massive inflation crisis, which Milei’s shock therapy tactics aim to fix. Being embroiled in a scandal like this is the last thing Milei wants as the country heads into midterm elections this October.