{"id":827838,"date":"2025-02-18T08:11:55","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T14:11:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/18\/president-milei-denies-promoting-libra-says-most-victims-were-american-and-chinese\/"},"modified":"2025-02-18T08:11:55","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T14:11:55","slug":"president-milei-denies-promoting-libra-says-most-victims-were-american-and-chinese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/18\/president-milei-denies-promoting-libra-says-most-victims-were-american-and-chinese\/","title":{"rendered":"President Milei Denies Promoting LIBRA, Says Most Victims Were American and Chinese"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Argentina\u2019s President Javier Milei spoke about the LIBRA meme coin for the first time since the high-profile scandal made news on Saturday.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

In an exclusive interview with national news outlet Todo Noticias, Milei said he only disseminated the project\u2013 but denied having promoted it.<\/p>\n

Milei mentioned meeting Hayden Davis, the CEO of LIBRA\u2019s market maker<\/a>, at the Tech Forum in October 2024. Hayden claims to be Milei\u2019s advisor for this project.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Friday, February 14, Milei endorsed the token in a tweet shortly after its launch. This saw the LIBRA meme coin<\/a> reach a market cap of over $4 billion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"President
The Now Deleted Tweet from President Milei. Source: X\/The Kobeissi Letter<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now, in today\u2019s interview<\/a>, Milei says he never promoted LIBRA. The president claims he shared it just in good faith, just like he shares about other tech projects.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI shared this the same way I\u2019ve shared hundreds of things. My tweet came just three minutes after the coin was created because I\u2019m passionate about these things and found out about it. These are volatility<\/a> traders who knew what they were doing.\u201d Milei said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t promote it, I disseminated it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

However, referring to the scandal, he said:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIt was a slap in the face.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Though he didn\u2019t refer to it as a mistake, Milei said that he had something to learn from the experience<\/a>. Referring to himself and his sister Karina Milei, the presidency\u2019s Secretary General, Milei said:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Milei said that moving forward, he will start to filter out the people who have access to him.<\/p>\n

Argentinians Did Not Lose Money, the President Claims<\/h2>\n

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.<\/p>\n

When rumors began spreading that Milei\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n

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

\n

\u201cDid the State lose money? No. Did Argentinians lose money? Maybe four or five at most. The vast majority of investors are Chinese and American.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"libra
LIBRA Meme Coin Market Cap Chart. Source: GeckoTerminal<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Milei also denied misleading investors, arguing that experienced crypto traders populated the Libra market.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThose who entered were volatility traders. They knew very well what they were getting into,\u201d Milei said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

At the same time, Milei admitted that he wasn\u2019t an expert in cryptocurrency. He also spoke of his relationship with Hayden Mark Davis, CEO of Kelsier Ventures.<\/p>\n

Hayden Davis Met With the President At Least 2 Times<\/h2>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Mauricio Novelli, a professional trader and a friend of Milei\u2019s for many years, connected the two.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to local reports, Novelli has visited the president\u2019s office, known as the Casa Rosada, and the president\u2019s residence, known as the Quinta de Olivos, at least two times since the Argentine Tech Forum. Meanwhile, Davis met with the president at least twice.<\/p>\n

It was during one of those meetings that Davis discussed the project with Milei.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cDavid proposed that I create a structure that funds projects for Argentine entrepreneurs,\u201d Milei said during the interview.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Milei added that he decided to publish the tweet because he thought the project was interesting and because he was a technological enthusiast.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cMy fanaticism for technology made me spread the word as soon as it was made public,\u201d Milei said during the interview.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The Fallout Continues<\/h2>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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

A day after the LIBRA launch, Milei presented himself before Argentina\u2019s Office of Anti-Corruption<\/a>, instructing it to investigate whether any member of the government, including himself, engaged in inappropriate behavior.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s role in the Libra launch<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Instead, Milei repeated that Justice needed to carry out its due diligence to verify whether any of Milei\u2019s cabinet members were involved. The president added that, to his knowledge, none were implicated.<\/p>\n

Milei emphasized that all crypto market activity is recorded on the blockchain. He added that this record should expedite the Justice Department\u2019s investigation into the scandal.<\/p>\n

\n

Disclaimer<\/p>\n

In adherence to the Trust Project<\/a> guidelines, BeInCrypto is committed to unbiased, transparent reporting. This news article aims to provide accurate, timely information. However, readers are advised to verify facts independently and consult with a professional before making any decisions based on this content. Please note that our\u00a0Terms and Conditions<\/a>,\u00a0Privacy Policy<\/a>, and\u00a0Disclaimers<\/a>\u00a0have been updated.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Camila Grigera Na\u00f3n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Argentina\u2019s President Javier Milei spoke about the LIBRA meme coin for the first time since the high-profile scandal made news on Saturday.\u00a0 In an exclusive interview with national news outlet Todo Noticias, Milei said he only disseminated the project\u2013 but denied having promoted it. Milei mentioned meeting Hayden Davis, the CEO of LIBRA\u2019s market maker<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":827839,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[132620,851],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-827838","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-milei","8":"category-president"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=827838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/827839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=827838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=827838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=827838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}