Argentina chief of staff resigns after disclosing $200,000 in early Bitcoin investments
The Argentine government is facing yet another crisis linked to bitcoin and the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
Manuel Adorni, former head of Javier Milei’s government, announced his resignation after what he described as an incessant media attack against him, while he has been the subject of an investigation since the beginning of March for illicit enrichment concerning more than $500,000 that he did not keep accountable for years.
Adorni filed amended returns claiming these funds were part of his income after investing $200,000 in bitcoin in 2013. “In 2013, I started investing heavily in bitcoin, about $200,000, and I made $300,000. And in 2018, I started liquidating.” he emphasized in a television interview on June 10.
Fernando Molina of Blockworks found a portfolio that matched the moves described by Adorni. This would only represent $60,000 in revenue, which falls short of the alleged $300,000 in revenue reported by Adorni. However, he also stressed that the operations were not limited to a single $BTC wallet.
He also pointed out that in 2014, only 2.86% (87,000 wallets) of all wallets held $BTC Worth over $10,000, but only 0.48% own it $BTC Worth over $56,000, putting Adorni at the top of the podium of bitcoin owners at that time.
“Tonight I will sleep in absolute peace with myself and with what I have done for the country; I only hope that many of those who did everything to harm me can one day do the same,” Adorni said in a resignation letter posted on social media on Saturday.
However, doubts remain about the veracity of his statements, given the difficulties encountered in acquiring larger quantities of bitcoin around 2013. Hugo Alconada of La Nacion also pointed out that he did not specify the origin of the funds for his initial investment. $BTC purchase.
“From which bank account did he deposit money on the exchange to buy Bitcoin? This FIAT (legal tender) traceability is documentable in the bank statements. Adorni contributed nothing”, Alconada said.
Adorni’s corruption scandal and recent resignation comes after Chairman Milei faced heavy criticism over his ties to the Libra token scheme, with thousands of people investing (and losing) millions of dollars in a token promoted by Milei using his social media account.