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The president of Argentina, Javier Milei, caused a storm of political fire by promoting an unknown cryptocurrency token which climbed value after its approval – then quickly crossed.
Friday evening, in an article on social networks, Mr. Milei said that the medal, called $ balance, would stimulate the economy and help small businesses to develop. While sudden attention gave the token an initial boost, the huge gains were erased while fear quickly spread that the medal was a scam.
Mr. Milei deleted the position, which was on his personal account, five hours later and tried to distance himself from the company. “I did not know the details of the project,” he wrote on X, “and after informing myself, I decided not to continue to broadcast it (that’s why I deleted the tweet ). “
Saturday evening, in Another article on X Of the official presidential account, his initial approval of the medal has been described as a routine promotion of a business. He also said that the president had opened investigations to know if someone in his government, including himself, had acted inappropriately and if a person involved in the medal had broken the law.
Mr. Milei had been criticized for having apparently pushed people to a risky investment. His initial article also caused comparisons with President Trump, who launched a same, $ Trump last month. This token jumped for a while and then crashed.
A central coalition on the left which opposes the libertarian government of Mr. Milei called his crypto incursion “an unprecedented scandal”. Another political block said that he was trying to create a commission in the congress to investigate what happened.
Former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Mr. Milei’s main political opponent, said thousands of people who had trusted her had lost millions of dollars in all, “when many have made a fortune due to information privileged “.
The promotion of Mr. Milei of $ Balance was only the last of a series of movements he made in parallel with Mr. Trump. Mr. Milei withdrew Argentina from the World Health Organization earlier this month, and its staff said that the government was examining whether to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.
The play promoted by Mr. Milei was presented as an investment tool that would be good for the country.
In his initial article on X, he declared that $ Balance – a name that bears the echoes of his political party, the Libertad Avanza – “would encourage the growth of the Argentinian economy, funding small businesses and Argentinian companies”.
“Liberal Argentina is growing !!!” Mr. Milei added, saying that “the world wants to invest in Argentina”.
Shortly after, a community note on X warned users to be careful with $ libra. He urged people to “check before interacting with the project” due to coherent behavior “with carpet traction”. This term refers to the scam offers by developers who create a cryptographic token, attract investors and suddenly disappear, withdrawing all their money.
Shortly after midnight, Mr. Milei deleted his post. He later said that he had no personal link with the cryptographic token. He was unleashed against his detractors, who, according to him, were trying to score political points.
“I mean that every day they confirm how the politicians are the humble,” he said.
In the declaration published by the presidential office on Saturday evening, Mr. Milei described his promotion of the routine medal, comparing him to the announcements he makes “daily” on entrepreneurs who want to launch projects in Argentina who create jobs. He added that he had two meetings on the medal, one in October of last year and the other in January, but had no involvement in his development.
Agustín Pantano, a 28 -year -old lawyer and a supporter of Milei, said that he had jumped on $ Balance due to the president’s initial post on X. He said he had bet that Mr. Milei’s participation could do of him a little money.
At 1 a.m., he checked his phone and saw that he had lost about 90% of the $ 150 he had invested.
“There were several red flags, and that is why I only invested in a little money,” said Pantano.
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