Argentina’s President to be Probed Over LIBRA Token Rug Pull

Argentina’s President to be Probed Over LIBRA Token Rug Pull

Argentinian President Javier Milei is facing impeachment calls after endorsing $LIBRA, a token that surged to $4.5 billion before collapsing by 95% in hours. In a now-deleted post on Feb. 14, Milei described $LIBRA as a private initiative to fund small businesses, but its rapid crash led to fraud allegations.

Insiders reportedly cashed out $107 million, triggering a mass selloff and erasing over $4 billion in market value. Opposition lawmaker Leandro Santoro called it a “scandal, which embarrasses us on an international scale,” and demanded Milei’s impeachment.

Milei denied any financial ties to the project and blamed "filthy rats of the political caste" for exploiting the situation. Argentina’s fintech chamber acknowledged $LIBRA might be a rug pull, citing on-chain data that revealed 82% of the supply was controlled by a small group of wallets.

Milei has ordered Argentina’s Anti-Corruption Office to investigate all government officials involved in $LIBRA’s promotion. Meanwhile, blockchain forensics firms LookOnChain and Bubblemaps had warned about the token’s centralized ownership hours before the meltdown.

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Pump.fun Debuts Mobile App For Launching Memecoins

Pump.fun has launched a mobile app for iOS and Android, letting users create, trade, and manage Solana meme coins from their phones. The app replicates the web platform’s functionality, offering features like portfolio tracking, custom watchlists, and direct token creation. “Our users asked for it, we gave it to them,” a Pump.fun representative told Decrypt.

The app’s launch follows a 12-fold surge in token launches in January, driven by simplified tokenization tools and growing meme coin speculation. CoinGecko COO Bobby Ong warned that liquidity fragmentation could dilute trader attention and price momentum across markets. “Too many tokens, each spreading the limited attention and liquidity of traders even thinner,” Ong posted on X.

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BNB Chain Prioritizes Memecoin Trades With New Optimization

BNB Chain has introduced a block-building optimization to prioritize time-sensitive transactions, particularly meme coin trades, amid soaring network congestion. Validators will now gather more bids per block, allowing higher-value transactions to push out lower-priority ones in the same three-second window.

Gas fees on BNB Chain have surged 400%, collecting $15 million in seven days, more than double Ethereum's total. Analysts attribute the spike to Binance’s recent legal pause and memecoins inspired by Changpeng Zhao’s dog, Broccoli, which have dominated PancakeSwap trading. “More to come. Build!” CZ wrote on X, signaling further upgrades ahead.

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India Seizes $190M in Crypto From BitConnect Ponzi Scheme

Indian authorities have seized $190 million in cryptocurrency, cash, and assets tied to the BitConnect Ponzi scheme, which collapsed in 2018. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) of Ahmedabad raided properties in Gujarat, confiscating digital assets, an SUV, and $15,500 in cash. “The accused collected money from investors worldwide, including those from India,” officials stated in a local report.

BitConnect defrauded over 4,000 investors across 95 countries, collecting $2.4 billion before shutting down. Founder Satish Kumbhani, who was charged by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2022, remains a fugitive despite new tracking efforts. “The ED has issued a lookout circular to prevent his escape,” investigators told local media.

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Data of the Day

Bitcoin’s 7-day moving average of network transactions has dropped to 330,000, marking a 12-month low and a 55% decline from peak levels. Fee revenue from Bitcoin-based protocols like Runes and Ordinals has plummeted, now contributing just 1% of total transactions.

Fee generation from Runes has dropped to less than $20,000 in the last 30 days compared to the $60 million it generated on launch day. With transaction fees stabilizing around $500,000 per month, Bitcoin’s primary use case appears to be returning to monetary transfers.

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More Breaking News

• Ethereum developers released client software for the Pectra upgrade on Holesky and Sepolia testnets, with a mainnet launch expected in April.
• Michael Saylor's Strategy could qualify for S&P 500 inclusion in June if Bitcoin closes Q1 above $96,337, securing positive GAAP net income.
• Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund purchased $436.9m in BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF in Q4 2024, with Barclays also acquiring $131m worth of IBIT shares.
• The SEC requested a deadline extension in its case against Coinbase, citing a potential resolution through its new crypto task force.
• Tether Investments purchased a minority stake in Italian football club Juventus, aiming to merge digital assets with the sports industry.
• Pantera Capital’s Dan Morehead is under investigation for possible tax violations after relocating to Puerto Rico, and making over $850 million in investment profits.
• A trading card collector won $100,000 in Bitcoin from a $50 pack of Cardsmiths crypto-themed trading cards.
• Bitcoin analyst PlanB moved all his BTC holdings into spot Bitcoin ETFs, citing ease of management and "peace of mind" over self-custody.

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