As part of a high-profile investigation into the LIBRA token, an Argentine court has taken unprecedented measures: 25 crypto wallets have been frozen, and six major international exchanges have been ordered to provide full identification of owners and complete transaction histories.
Federal Judge Marcelo Martínez de Giorgi issued this ruling at the request of prosecutor Eduardo Taiano. The basis was a technical report from the cybercrime division of the Argentine Federal Police (PFA), which uncovered a complex network of fund movements.
Details of the Court Order
The freeze affected wallets on several platforms: ten addresses on Binance, eight on Bybit, two each on OKX, CoinEx, and Bitfinex, and one on FixedFloat. The judge demanded that each exchange provide a complete set of client KYC data: account opening documents, internal records, IP addresses, associated bank details, and a comprehensive transaction history.
The court ruling emphasizes the preventive nature of the measures. The main goal is to prevent the withdrawal or concealment of assets that may be deemed proceeds of crime, and to ensure their potential recovery. The judge noted that "the freeze should stop possible new crimes during the investigation" and pointed to the absence of a cryptocurrency regulator in the country as one of the reasons for such stringent actions.
Timeline of the LIBRA Collapse
The scandal began on February 14, 2025, with a post by President Javier Milei on social media platform X. The token's price surged from $0.01 to nearly $5 within hours, then collapsed amid mass selling by the project's creators. According to the investigation, fund withdrawals reached approximately $100 million, with over 40,000 people affected.
The PFA technical report reconstructed the chain of fund movements using reverse tracing and open-source analysis. Assets flowed from a group of wallets called Team Libra Wallets. On February 14-15, 2025, millions of tokens were transferred from them to a common intermediate wallet. Then, on May 10, 2026, 498,539.85 USDT arrived at a wallet on the Tron network via a compatibility protocol — the transaction took just 16 seconds without involving a traditional exchange. After that, a smurfing scheme was launched, with daily distribution of fragmented amounts across numerous wallets.
Among those accused are lobbyist Mauricio Novelli, his partner, and American Hayden Davis.
Cryptalist Analytical Commentary: This case is a vivid example of how quickly a "pump-and-dump" can unfold on meme tokens with political backing. Importantly, judicial authorities are beginning to use advanced blockchain analysis and cross-exchange interaction methods, significantly increasing the chances of asset recovery. For investors, this is yet another reminder: big names do not guarantee a project's legitimacy, and on-chain data technical analysis is becoming an essential due diligence tool.