Libra Investigation Moves Forward in Argentina as Celebrity Memecoins Continue to Decline

This week, Argentina’s Congress announced that it is moving forward in its investigation of the LIBRA memecoin scandal from earlier this year, which involved President Javier Milei.

According to an official press release on April 8, Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies have voted to pass three draft resolutions regarding the Libra (LIBRA) memecoin scam, including the creation of an investigative commission, the subpoena of various executive branch officials, and the request for information from government officials.

These resolutions will allow the relevant authorities to investigate Argentine government officials who may have been involved with the Libra incident. Back in February, LIBRA was briefly promoted by President Milei on X and its launch ended up being a rug-pull, during which project insiders extracted $107 million from the token, causing its value to crash by 95% the same day it launched, Feb. 14.

Among the government officials who will be questioned are the Chief of Staff, Guillermo Francos; the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo; the Minister of Justice, Mariano Cúneo Libarona; and the head of the National Securities Commission (CNV), Roberto Silva.

Argentine government officials have been vocal about bringing the Libra memecoin conspirators to book.

Democracy Forever representative Pablo Juliana — whose party requested the special session — said during the discussion that it was time for Congress to determine what, if any, harm the Libra scandal caused Argentina.

LIBRA — alongside official political memecoins TRUMP and MELANIA — was one of the high-profile celebrity-associated assets that launched at the height of the memecoin frenzy in the first few months of this year.

MELANIA, the official memecoin from the First Lady of the United States, has been making headlines this week, following news that $30 million had been moved out of its community reserve and was being sold without any word from the team.

Currently, LIBRA is trading around $0.054, down 93% from its all-time high from right after it launched. Meanwhile, political memecoin TRUMP is trading around $8, down 90% from its peak at $44.28, while MELANIA is near $0.50, down about 96% from its all-time high.

Commenting on the recent memecoin volatility, Aurelie Barthere, Principal Research Analyst at Nansen, told The Defiant:

While the political reckoning in Argentina unfolds, analysts like Barthere believe this might be one of the last big messes of this kind — at least for now.