Milei’s meme madness dampens Argentine stock market

Meme coin tremors shook Argentina’s stock market as President Javier Milei was sued over the launch of the LIBRA token.

The S&P Merval, Argentina’s stock market index, fell 5% as markets opened on Feb. 17 following a tumultuous weekend involving the Solana-based meme coin Libra. The index, which tracks Argentina’s largest publicly traded companies, similar to the U.S. S&P 500, recovered 2% but remained below last week’s close, according to Yahoo Finance.

Speculators argued that a legal complaint filed against President Milei likely contributed to the S&P Merval’s decline.

Last weekend, developers launched the LIBRA token through the Solana meme platform Pump.fun. Milei had publicly supported the project in a now-deleted tweet, touting LIBRA as a potential boost to the country’s economy and small businesses.

Sovereign-tied meme coins were in short supply but in high demand after U.S. President Donald Trump’s official TRUMP token skyrocketed to a $70 billion fully diluted valuation within days. 

Despite LIBRA’s massive trading volume, the token crashed 90% from its $4 billion peak hours after its debut. President Milei deleted his tweet, and his office opened an investigation into the meme coin.  According to the Associated Press, a domestic lawsuit alleged President Milei engaged in fraud.

Milei’s office denied insider knowledge of LIBRA, insisting the President and his team had no prior notice of the launch.

Kelsier Ventures CEO Hayden Davis, an advisor to President Milei on LIBRA, admitted that he and his team sniped the token, a practice where traders buy a large portion of a token’s supply at launch. This behavior is often associated with large-scale launches or rug pulls, where projects raise capital from investors and disappear without delivering on promises.

In a YouTube interview with CoffeeZilla, Davis also confirmed that he pulled about $100 million from LIBRA’s on-chain liquidity. Davis told Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy he doesn’t intend to cash in the proceeds.

Instead, Davis claimed he plans to consult with President Milei and Argentina’s government regarding the funds. Meanwhile, LIBRA surged over 60% after Milei unexpectedly reposted a tutorial on how to buy the token.