Argentine court blocks 25 wallets in LIBRA case: exchanges required to disclose owners' identities
Argentine justice has dealt a serious blow to the case of the scandalous LIBRA token. Federal Judge Marcelo Martínez de Giorgi, at the request of prosecutor Eduardo Taiano, has ordered the freezing of 25 cryptocurrency wallets allegedly involved in a scheme to withdraw funds after the token's collapse. This is not just an asset freeze—it is a clear signal to the market that regulators are beginning to act firmly and swiftly.
The judge also sent official requests to six international crypto exchanges: Binance, Bybit, OKX, CoinEx, FixedFloat, and Bitfinex. This involves ten addresses on Binance, eight on Bybit, two on OKX, two on CoinEx, one on FixedFloat, and two on Bitfinex. Each platform is required to provide a complete set of KYC data: documents used for verification, internal records, IP logs, associated bank accounts, and a comprehensive transaction history.
Why is this important?
The court's decision is based on a technical report from the cybercrime division of the Argentine Federal Police (PFA). It reconstructed the chain of fund movements using reverse tracing and OSINT. The investigation established that assets left a group of wallets called Team Libra Wallets on February 14–15, 2025—millions of tokens were transferred to an intermediate wallet. Then, on May 10, 2026, via a cross-chain protocol, 498,539.85 USDT arrived at a wallet on the Tron network in 16 seconds, without involving a traditional exchange.
Next, a fund-splitting scheme was launched—daily "smurfing" with small amounts distributed across numerous wallets to hinder tracking. The court emphasizes the preventive nature of the freeze: it should stop potential new crimes during the investigation and prevent future irreparable damage.
Timeline of the LIBRA collapse
It all began with a post by President Milei on social media platform X on February 14, 2025. The token's price surged from $0.01 to nearly $5 within hours, then crashed amid mass sell-offs by the project's creators. According to the investigation, the fund withdrawal amounted to about $100 million. Over 40,000 people were affected. Among the accused are lobbyist Mauricio Novelli, his partner, and American Hayden Davis.
My comment: This case is a clear example of how a "pump and dump" involving political elites can lead to massive losses. Freezing wallets across so many exchanges simultaneously is a rare instance of coordination. However, given the speed and sophistication of the scheme (a cross-chain transfer in 16 seconds followed by smurfing), recovering funds for victims is a challenging task. The market should remember: if an asset skyrockets on hype from a public figure, it is almost always a trap for retail investors.