(Bloomberg) – Late Friday night, prolific social media user Javier Milei directed his followers to a site that aims to use crypto to raise money for small and medium-sized Argentine businesses.
Most of them read from Bloomberg
Half apart digital currency entrepreneur Hayden Davis saw the value of Libra Token, the so-called memo coin he helped launch. Its market value flew over $1 billion, over $2 billion, and over $4 billion.
When it collapsed, as such tokens often do, Mairei’s presidency in Argentina was in crisis mode. Investors like Dave Portnoy, founder of Barstool Sports, suffered sudden losses and were called “the biggest ragpur of all time.” Davis himself admitted in a later post on social media that he retained profits despite the decline.
The event is currently subject to internal government investigations. Prominent members of the crypto world are pointing their fingers at each other as Mairay tries to recover from his political black eyes.
“The Libra story is a tragedy,” says Elder Henry of UTXO Management. “The lack of moral compasses is a tough example of the current crops of crypto leaders.”
Buenos Aires investors have stopped the situation by dumping shares on some of the largest local companies. The benchmark S&P Merval Index saw its biggest daytime drop in about three weeks, dropping by 5.8% before trimming the decline.
Meanwhile, Mairay is heading to Washington this week in hopes of meeting Donald Trump. Argentine leaders want to secure the US president’s support for their country to receive more money from the International Monetary Fund, a new program that could be exempt from Trump’s tariffs, a new program that is still negotiating, and a new program that could be exempt from Trump’s tariffs. I’m thinking about it.
Mairay won the Argentine election in late 2023 after a landslide with supporters desperate for a quick economic overhaul after a few years of crisis. He is increasingly in line with right-leaning leaders around the world, and his code hype was reminiscent of the token himself, which Trump himself launched a few days before his inauguration.
The Libra Token was released in Solana. This is a blockchain with high transaction speeds and low fees that has become popular with Memocoin traders.
It was a contradictory story that exacerbated the chaos over the weekend. After Libra crashed, Kelsier Ventures CEO Davis said in a video posted on X on Saturday that he was Milei’s advisor. Milei’s office later issued a statement saying that Davis “has no ties with and has no connection to the Argentine government.”
The story continues
First Intro
Mairi said he met Davis at the presidential palace in Buenos Aires last month. This is because crypto executives are involved in providing Libra’s digital infrastructure. The Argentine president had given the wind to the project a few months ago. Before he took office, a trader he knew introduced him to Julian Peh, the head of KIP Protocol, the company that first proposed tokens.
By early Saturday, Mairay denied having detailed knowledge of Libra and said he appears to be well-intentioned, but supports a private initiative that he had no connection to. Davis said the Argentine president supported and actively promoted the token, but unexpectedly backtracked it.
Davis said Saturday he plans to reassure crypto buyers by reassuring them.
Neither Milei’s office, Davis or Peh, responded immediately to requests for comment.
In a statement released Monday, the KIP Protocol said it was last October that PEH or other members of its team met Milei, and Libra was not mentioned. The company added that KIP was not in charge of the token launch process, and that Davis was not employed by the protocol and had not made a profit from the launch.
As a result of the crash, some of the investors were Portnoy. Portnoy said Sunday night on X-Stream where Davis invited him to take part in the token launch. The two first met at Portnoy’s home a few weeks ago, and then Davis spoke to him over the phone while in Buenos Aires, where Crypto entrepreneurs meet Argentine leaders. According to Portnoy, Davis added him to Libra’s “marketing ledger” and pitched Portnoy by interviewing Argentina’s Mairay, as he interviewed Trump years ago.
Portnoy, who described Milei as “the mini-card-like type of guy,” said Davis had given him a Libra coin before launch. Portnoy told Davis he was planning to disclose the gift to his social media followers when he promoted the token, but Davis immediately told him to remove the details from the unpublished post. Portnoy said he returned the talented coin but bought Libra independently after Miley’s first post on Friday night, betting on the reliability of the Argentine leader.
When the coin crashes, Portnoy simmers in the crowd, hears Miley Cyrus and listens to performances at Radio City Music Hall in New York, and texts Davis for Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special I did.
“I was buying like all the other fools,” Portnoy said, denounced Mylay for misleading Davis and for failing to ken with profanity. “I didn’t buy it myself until Mylay tweeted it.”
Political Fallout
This episode was embarrassing for Mairay. Libertarian economists seeking to rebuild their economy caused by Argentina’s crisis have surprised crowds for the second year in a row at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and are rock star position among the world’s leading capitalists. has been acquired.
It is unclear what will happen for Mairei ten months before the Argentina midterm elections. Political opponents quickly threatened legal action and the ammo-each trial, which is unlikely to move forward, as they needed a two-thirds majority in Congress. The major central right party of former market-friendly president Mauricio Macri, who has supported Mailei’s reforms, has expressed disappointment so far, but has rejected the Peronist opposition attempts to kick him out.
Pollers say Mairay may still avoid paying large political prices as inflation is declining, wages are rising and the economy is rising. His approval rating has been hovered by nearly 47% for several months, but all other political parties in Argentina are less popular and more fragmented. But it revives concerns about the president’s sometimes volatile persona and decision.
“The macroeconomic balance needs to be emotionally balanced,” said Alejandro Catterberg, director of Poliarquia, a consulting firm based in Buenos Aires. “These types create a lot of unnecessary uncertainty.”
– Supporting Muyao Shen, Olga Kharif, Suvashree Ghosh, Emily Nicolle, Kevin Simauchi and Philip Sanders.
(Update to include sharing movements in the sixth paragraph)
Most of them read from Bloomberg BusinessWeek
©2025 Bloomberg LP
