LIBRA, the controversial meme coin initially promoted by Argentina President Javier Milei, dramatically surged Monday in response to the leader reposting the token's purchase tutorial on X.
What happened: Milei reposted a message by one of his key economic advisors, Dario Epstein, who attempted to explain the complexities of buying the token for an average Argentine. The post outlined the various steps needed on “How to buy LIBRA.”
"The only purpose of this tweet is to show that it was not easy for a common person to buy this instrument or meme coin. It is not an endorsement, tutorial, or recommendation," the translated post read.
However, the reposting was eventually seen as an endorsement by some, as the Solana SOL/USD-based token shot up over 18% in the last 24 hours, with an intraday high of $0.756, according to CoinMarketCap. The coin's trading volume shot up by 332%.
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Why It Matters: Milei has been under fire for promoting the pump-and-dump coin that destroyed millions in investors' wealth over the weekend. The coin was down 64% from its peak.
Opposition leaders have called for the president's impeachment to address allegations of corruption tied to the launch. Moreover, Argentine lawyers have pressed charges against Milei in a criminal court.
The president's office has ordered an inquiry to investigate if any member of the national government, including the president himself, has committed misconduct.
The controversy deepened after on-chain detectives alleged a potential link between the teams behind the Official Melania MELANIA/USD token of First Lady Melania Trump and the LIBRA token, providing insider trading evidence.
Argentina's stock market has been hit by the developments, with S&P Merval index, which tracks the performance of the country's largest companies, closing down 5.58% on Monday.
Benzinga’s Take: As the LIBRA saga illustrates, investing in meme coins and cryptocurrencies can be highly speculative at times and involve significant risk. Some Meme coins lack intrinsic value and are driven by market sentiment, social media trends, and speculative trading. Prices can be extremely volatile and can lead to loss of investments.
Photo by Igor Faun on Shutterstock
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