Milei caught in a crypto spider web
TODAY 06:09
By associating himself with a cosmopolitan bunch of chancers, Milei has raised serious questions about the government he leads.
James Neilson
Former editor of the Buenos Aires Herald (1979-1986).
Like his soul-mate Donald Trump, Javier Milei enjoys firing off aggressive tweets about whatever happens to catch his attention at any given moment. Perhaps both hope that they spark furious debates that will help them dominate the news cycle.
Last week, one such verbal missile exploded in Milei’s face. By making it look as though he had encouraged people to invest good money in what appears to have been a crypto scam that one specialist compared to a Ponzi scheme, in which those who wait too long before pulling out can lose many millions of dollars, he managed to cast doubts on his own personal honesty, his fitness to be president and – what in the long run will probably cause him more problems – the nature of the government that he put together after thrashing Sergio Massa in the November 2023 elections.
Luckily for Milei, few people really think he is a greedy fraudster who tried to take advantage of an opportunity to acquire a nice fortune by gambling in the volatile cryptocurrency market, a newish branch of finance whose workings only a handful of individuals even pretend to understand. After all, Milei is an ideologue at heart, a man of Spartan habits who cares little for the material goodies that obsess so many conventional politicians.
It was Milei’s reputation as an economic seer, plus awareness that a president could do many things that are denied to others, that made his apparent enthusiasm for a dodgy crypto operation enough to send its market price skyrocketing until participants in the game decided that the tokens they were accumulating were worth next to nothing, thereby sending an incredible amount of money into cyberspace.
More:
https://www.batimes.com.ar/news/opinion-and-analysis/milei-caught-in-a-crypto-spider-web.phtml