Argentine court freezes 25 wallets in LIBRA case: exchanges required to disclose KYC data
Argentine Themis has dealt a powerful blow to the organizers of the scandalous LIBRA token. Federal Judge Marcelo Martinez de Giorgi, at the request of prosecutor Eduardo Taiano, issued a ruling to immediately freeze 25 cryptocurrency wallets directly linked to this high-profile case. Simultaneously, the court ordered six major international exchanges to provide comprehensive data on the owners of these addresses.
Scale of the Operation: From Binance to Bitfinex
This involves a diverse portfolio of addresses spread across leading trading platforms. The list includes ten wallets on Binance, eight on Bybit, two each on OKX, CoinEx, and Bitfinex, and one address on FixedFloat. The judge demanded from each platform a complete set of KYC documents: identity cards, internal records, IP logs, linked bank accounts, and a detailed history of all transactions.
The main motivation for such a harsh decision is the absence of a clear cryptocurrency regulator in Argentina, which, according to the court, creates a high risk of being unable to subsequently compensate for damages. The asset freeze, as emphasized in the ruling, is preventive in nature and aims to prevent new crimes during the investigation, as well as to prevent the withdrawal or concealment of funds that may be recognized as proceeds from illegal activities.
PFA Technical Report: How $100 Million Was Traced
The key evidence was a technical report from the cybercrime division of the Argentine Federal Police (PFA). Specialists reconstructed the full picture of fund movements using reverse tracing and open-source intelligence (OSINT) analysis. It was found that assets were leaving a group of wallets called Team Libra Wallets. Between February 14 and 15, 2025, millions of tokens were transferred from them, which then settled in an intermediate wallet.
Further, the investigation recorded a major withdrawal: on May 10, 2026, 498,539.85 USDT arrived in a wallet on the Tron network via a compatibility protocol. The transaction was completed in just 16 seconds, bypassing traditional exchanges. After that, a smurfing scheme was launched: daily distribution of small amounts across numerous wallets to complicate tracking.
Let me remind you that the scandal erupted after a post by President Javier Milei on social network X on February 14, 2025. The price of the LIBRA token soared from $0.01 to nearly $5 within hours, and then collapsed after mass sales by the creators. Over 40,000 people are recognized as victims. According to investigation estimates, the amount of withdrawn funds reached approximately $100 million. Among the accused are lobbyist Mauricio Novelli, his partner, and American Hayden Davis.
Expert opinion: This landmark case clearly demonstrates that even in the absence of formal cryptocurrency regulation, traditional legal mechanisms can effectively block assets on centralized exchanges. For investors, this is a signal: relying on complete anonymity when working with major platforms is becoming increasingly risky. The fate of LIBRA is a classic example of a pump-and-dump scheme at the state level, the consequences of which will be analyzed for a long time.