Key Takeaways:
Argentine Federal Judge Marcelo Martinez ordered the urgent freeze of 25 crypto wallets linked to the Libra token, seeking to identify owners who moved at least $8.2 million through exchanges including Binance.
"The police report reconstructed the trail of these funds through several crypto networks starting in May," according to the court document reviewed by local media. Judge Martinez issued the order after receiving a report from the Federal Police's Cybercrime Technical Department.
The probe targets eight wallets labeled as "Libra team" that had direct involvement in the token launch after President Javier Milei promoted it on social media. Four of those wallets consolidated nearly $57 million into a single address that was blocked and later released by the US District Court for the Southern District of New York after it determined the funds were no longer at risk of dissipation. Of 17 movements executed from one wallet, at least 10 passed through Binance, while eight wallets linked to Bybit, two to OKX, and two to Bitfinex were also identified.
The remaining funds are now managed by a Libra Trust, which plans to distribute them as grants to Argentine companies before November, with 71 applications already pending approval. The involvement of centralized exchanges with know-your-customer controls could help authorities identify wallet owners, though some transactions may remain untraceable because certain institutions do not require customer identification.
The order scrutinized wallets that attempted to obfuscate their transactions by mixing funds through multiple addresses and an interoperability protocol. On May 10, a fund movement funneled nearly 500,000 through an interoperability protocol into a Tron address. The court's action signals heightened legal risk for crypto projects in Argentina, where regulatory frameworks remain unsettled. The case also sets a precedent for exchange cooperation with sovereign court orders, potentially increasing compliance burdens for platforms operating in the region.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
