The Argentinian President’s crypto scam exploited the dangerous illusion of apolitical money

On Friday 14th February, President Milei of Argentina tweeted about the $LIBRA coin, encouraging his followers to buy it on the grounds that it would “help fund small businesses and start-ups”. As if that weren’t enough, he shared a link for people to buy it online. Naturally, within a few hours, $LIBRA’s price shot up. Many more people, trying to escape the poverty that Millei’s policies have subjected them to, rushed in to buy. Alas, soon after the price of $LIBRA crashed and they lost their money.

This is a standard tactic by crypto scammers. It is known as a ‘rug pull’: draw in naïve buyers only to stop trading and run with their money. But when the President of the country does it, it is more than a scam. It is a political crime.

More broadly, this incident confirms how dangerous the illusion of apolitical, non-state, money is. Money can never be anything other than state based. That we need to democratise our public money is, of course, crucial. But any attempt to privatise money is an oligarchic, criminal act. End of story.