President Javier Milei of Argentina has been cleared of misconduct allegations related to his promotion of the LIBRA cryptocurrency in February, according to a report by the Buenos Aires Herald on Saturday. A resolution issued by the country's anti-corruption office on Friday stated that the president was speaking in his capacity as an economist, rather than as a public official, when he shared information about LIBRA on social media.
The resolution, signed by Alejandro Melik, the head of the anti-corruption office, noted that the president's personal social media account was created before he took office as president and even before his term as deputy. The post in question promoted LIBRA as a project aimed at helping small and medium-sized Argentine businesses raise capital, and it led to a surge in the cryptocurrency's market capitalization to around $4.5 billion.
However, the president deleted the post just hours later, citing a lack of awareness about the project's details. The subsequent sell-off resulted in a 90% crash in LIBRA's value, wiping out over $4 billion. Data from Nansen showed that 86% of traders lost a total of $251 million, while the remaining traders secured $180 million in profits.
Further controversy arose when it was revealed that LIBRA's co-creator, Hayden Davis, had bragged about his influence over President Milei due to payments made to the president's sister, Karina Milei, a prominent figure in his government.