Komputer JaduL-, About $99 million in cryptocurrency was withdrawn from the coin market at the center of a scandal in Argentina by eight digital wallets linked to the creator of the crypto token, blockchain researchers say.
Argentine President Javier Milei recommended the little-known $LIBRA crypto coin on Friday night in a post on X, but later deleted the post and denied having any connection to the cryptocurrency.
A federal judge is investigating the token’s launch and Milei’s involvement in it, after the coin, which Milei promoted on Friday, quickly surged above $4.50 a coin and then plummeted hours later.
Milei accused his rivals of trying to take advantage of the situation.
According to blockchain researcher Chainalysis, the eight crypto wallets withdrew about $99 million worth of tokens from the so-called $LIBRA token liquidity pool — a kind of crypto marketplace where people can trade.
Chainalysis could not confirm the identities of the wallets that withdrew the crypto, but said they received the tokens directly from the $LIBRA creator.
“On-chain behavior suggests that these addresses are closely tied to the Libra creator team based on the fact that they were funded directly from the Libra token creators,” Chainalysis told Media Station Journalists.
Chainalysis did not comment on when exactly the funds would be withdrawn.
Meme coins are crypto tokens that feature a brand or name that refers to a meme or internet trend or joke. They often crash after rapidly rising in value as traders take profits.
While the coins have long been a staple of the crypto industry, they rarely involve politicians. In a surprising move, U.S. President Donald Trump and his wife launched their own coin last month.
The tokens withdrawn from Libra’s liquidity pool were the stablecoin USDC and another cryptocurrency called SOL, or Solana, Chainalysis said, adding that the dollar value of the funds varied and fluctuated as the token’s price fluctuated.
Another blockchain analytics firm, Nansen, told Newsweek on Wednesday that wallets that removed tokens from the Libra market “still have a combined value of about $87 million.”
Nansen said it’s “fair to say there’s still a lot of money in their hands that’s tied to the Libra launch.”
The value of the holdings can change in dollar terms as the price of the cryptocurrency in which the tokens are held changes.
The tokens were launched on a crypto exchange called Meteora. The exchange could not immediately be reached for comment.
From Sunday to Tuesday, 70% of wallets trading $LIBRA were losing money, Nansen said.
WRONG PLAN
Hayden Davis, whose now-defunct LinkedIn page said he was the CEO of a crypto firm called Kelsier Ventures, described himself in a statement on the firm’s X account on Sunday as a “launch advisor” for the token.
Davis said in the statement that he had as much as $100 million of Libra’s crypto under his control, without explaining how or why he obtained the funds. He said he intended to “reinvest” the money into the token.
“I must be very clear that I have never, and will never, take these funds for my personal gain,” Davis said in a written statement to X.
In an interview published Monday with crypto YouTuber Stephen Findeisen, known as “Coffeezilla,” Davis said the token was not a so-called scam, a fraud in which backers lure investors, send its value soaring, then quickly withdraw their funds, leaving investors with worthless tokens. Davis said he has been working to stop the token from declining further.
“This is not a scam. This is a plan that is very wrong with $100 million sitting in an account that I maintain,” he said.
News reporters spoke to Findeisen to confirm the authenticity of the interview. Reporters were unable to reach Davis for comment. A spokesperson for Davis did not respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Elizabeth Howcroft in Paris and Hannah Lang in New York; Additional reporting by Lucinda Elliott in Uruguay; Editing by Tommy Reggiori Wilkes and Stephen Coates, Additional reporting republished by private news reporters...)
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