Home $99m worth of crypto withdrawn in Milei-linked LIBRA scandal

$99m worth of crypto withdrawn in Milei-linked LIBRA scandal

TLDR

  • Blockchain researchers link $99M in crypto withdrawals to the Libra scandal in Argentina.
  • Eight wallets tied to the Libra creator reportedly received funds before the token crashed.
  • Developer denies a rug-pull, claiming the failed plan left $100M in a custodian account.

Blockchain researchers have claimed around $99 million worth of cryptocurrency was withdrawn, directly related to the Libra scandal involving Argentina’s President Javier Milei.

Eight digital wallets linked to the crypto token’s creator have been identified as the recipients of the assets, by Chainanalysis. 

The coin known as $LIBRA was promoted on the X account of President Milei, contributing to its rise, before the post was deleted and discredited just hours later. 

This resulted in the value of the token plummeting, leaving investors reeling with millions of dollars in losses.

In response, lawyers in Argentina have filed fraud cases against Milei to directly implicate him, but his office has dismissed notions he was directly involved with the development or promotion of the crypto coin. 

While a federal judge is presiding over the case, Chainanalysis has stated the eight accounts withdrew the $99 million worth of tokens from $LIBRAs liquidity pool, basically a marketplace where people can trade.

The identity of the holders has not been determined, but the researchers are adamant the wallets had received tokens directly from the creator of $LIBRA.

They told Reuters, “The on-chain behavior suggests that these addresses are closely related to the Libra creator team based on the fact that those addresses were funded directly from the Libra token creator.” 

Developer denies rug-pull

Despite the sharp decline in the price of $LIBRA, another analytics firm said wallets that withdrew tokens from the marketplace “still hold a combined value of about $87 million”.

Nansen conveyed “it is fair to say that there is still a lot of money in the hands of those related to the Libra launch,” adding that 70% of wallets trading $LIBRA lost funds from Sunday to Tuesday, in recent days.

Hayden Davis, who developed the token with KIP Protocol denied that the situation was an elaborate rug-pull – when an attractive crypto coin is launched enticing plenty of investor funding, only to pull out once the funds become overpriced rendering the token virtually worthless.

“It’s not a rug. It’s a plan gone miserably wrong with $100 million sitting in an account that I’m the custodian of,” Davis told crypto YouTuber  “Coffeezilla”, real name Stephen Findeisen.

Image credit: Grok/X

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The ReadWrite Editorial policy involves closely monitoring the gambling and blockchain industries for major developments, new product and brand launches, game releases and other newsworthy events. Editors assign relevant stories to in-house staff writers with expertise in each particular topic area. Before publication, articles go through a rigorous round of editing for accuracy, clarity, and to ensure adherence to ReadWrite's style guidelines.

Graeme Hanna
Tech Journalist

Graeme Hanna is a full-time, freelance writer with significant experience in online news as well as content writing. Since January 2021, he has contributed as a football and news writer for several mainstream UK titles including The Glasgow Times, Rangers Review, Manchester Evening News, MyLondon, Give Me Sport, and the Belfast News Letter. Graeme has worked across several briefs including news and feature writing in addition to other significant work experience in professional services. Now a contributing news writer at ReadWrite.com, he is involved with pitching relevant content for publication as well as writing engaging tech news stories.

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