The Muse

I am a business economist with interests in international trade worldwide through politics, money, and banking. The author of RG Richardson City Guides has over 300 guides, including restaurants and finance.

RG Richardson Interactive

RG Richardson Interactive
Interactive Finance Dictionary

Javier Milei in hot water over memecoin collapse

 

President Javier Milei of Argentina

Luis Robayo/Getty Images

What do the leader of a country with over 46 million people and the host of the Talk Tuah podcast have in common? After this weekend, both Argentina President Javier Milei and internet celebrity Haliey Welch will forever be associated with memecoins and rug pulls.

The libertarian Milei promoted $LIBRA in a post on X late Friday, saying, “This is a private project dedicated to encouraging the growth of the Argentine economy.” Hours later, after it had risen to a market cap of $4.4 billion, it crashed in value by more than 95%. Milei then deleted his post and said he was not familiar with the details of the project.

Setting a President: This move by Milei follows in the footsteps of US President Donald Trump, who launched a memecoin not long before his inauguration in January.

What’s next? One political faction wants the Argentinian Congress to investigate what a center-left opposition group called “a scandal without precedent,” while Milei himself has said he will also look into whether any laws were broken. Lawmakers have also raised the possibility of an impeachment hearing for Milei.

Comments