By Elizabeth Howcroft, Lucinda Elliott and Hannah Lang
(Reuters) – A cryptocurrency that briefly increased on the support of Argentinian president Javier Milei before crashing is the last in a series of politically approved coins in the face of a reaction.
Last Friday, the cryptocurrency of the balance was launched in Argentina, after the American president Donald Trump and his wife released cryptocurrencies named after three days before the inauguration of Trump on January 20. The President of the Central African Republic Fauustin-Archange Touadera Touadera also created the same official even cinos earlier this month.
The pieces even are cryptographic tokens named after internet trends or popular people. While most of them never take off, some are done: Dogecoin on the theme of dogs, which has skyrocketed when the billionaire Elon Musk began to tweet on this subject in 2020, remains the eighth largest cryptocurrency.
While some Crypto leaders delight the ability of tokens to attract new investors, others say that coins in politicians go too far and risk harming industry attempts to improve its image after years of scandals .
“This is a very controversial subject,” said Thomas Puech, CEO of Crypto Fund Indigo, based in Miami.
“You can look at it from the point of view that all advertising is a good advertisement”, but as regards the Trump token, Puech said “many retail traders or cryptographic novices trying to surf a wave had a bad taste in their mouths. “
The coins, if they take off, tend to display drugs of price before collapsing. Most people who buy lose money, while a small group of merchants and the creators of parts take advantage.
“Certain coins have clearly been too far in recent times, since people are initiated crimes,” said Brian Armstrong, CEO of Crypto Exchange Coinbase, on X without naming parts.
After reaching a peak greater than $ 70 within two days of its launch, Trump’s play plunged at around $ 17, according to Coingecko data.
For the Balance Coin – which Milei promoted in an article on X – most merchants have lost money, but 34 accounts made $ 124.6 million between them, according to Nansen crypto researchers. The token culminated above $ 4.50 Friday, but plunged more than 95% in the coming hours.
Milei then deleted the position and denied having a commercial link with the cryptocurrency.
A federal judge investigates the launch of the token and the participation of Milei. The Argentina stock market fell but quickly recovered after the investors decided that it was unlikely that the scandal will lead to the indictment of Milei.
Rodolfo Andragnes, founder of Bitcoin Argentina Ngo, a non-profit organization that promotes crypto, said that the balance of the balance was “a missed opportunity” for the cryptocurrency industry in Argentina.