Miley clarifies LIBRA incident, Musk's DOGE will be audited by SEC

Headline

▌Argentine President Milley clarified: There was no promotion, only the sharing of LIBRA information

Argentine President Milley said on a TV show, "I acted in good faith, and I was hit. Did the country lose money? No. Did the Argentines lose money? At most four or five. The vast majority of investors are Chinese and Americans. I shared this information, just like the hundreds of things I have shared. My tweet was sent three minutes after the currency was created because I am passionate about these things and understand it. These people are volatility traders and know what they are doing. It is false to say that 44,000 people were affected, only 5,000 at most. The possibility of involving Argentines is very small. These are people who are very professional in this financial instrument. Those involved People are very aware of the risks they take - they are volatility traders. This is a private matter between individuals and they participate voluntarily.  

I did not promote LIBRA, I just shared the LIBRA information. I did it because I am a staunch technology optimist. Any initiative that can improve financing for technology entrepreneurs is attractive to me. I did nothing wrong because I acted with good intentions. But when I saw the consequences, I realized that I still have a lot to learn. I need to understand that after becoming president, I still acted the same way before. Unfortunately, this situation made me realize that I need to improve my screening standards and stop being so accessible. ”

▌Musk's DOGE will audit the US SEC for potential fraud, abuse and waste

According to an official announcement, Elon Musk's government efficiency department DOGE will audit the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for potential waste, fraud and abuse.

Market

As of press time, according to Coingecko data:

BTC's latest transaction price is 95,970.42 US dollars, with a daily increase or decrease of -0.3%;

ETH's latest transaction price is 2,750.07 US dollars, with a daily increase or decrease of +3.2%;

BNB's latest transaction price is 667.69 US dollars, with a daily increase or decrease of -0.9%；

SOL's latest transaction price is 177.69 US dollars, with a daily increase or decrease of -5.8%；

DOGE's latest transaction price is 0.2587 US dollars, with a daily increase or decrease of -2.6%；

XPR's latest transaction price is 2.66 US dollars, with a daily increase or decrease of -2.7%.

Policy

▌Argentine lawyer files criminal complaint with FBI and US Department of Justice over LIBRA

An Argentine law firm filed a criminal complaint with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on February 17, accusing the person behind the collapse of the LIBRA token and requesting an investigation into Argentine President Milley's role in it. 

On another legal front, Civic Coalition ARI also filed a criminal complaint on February 17, asking the Department of Justice to investigate Milley's allegations of bribery and fraud. 

The LIBRA token rose sharply on February 14 because President Milley posted a post about the project on Platform X (formerly Twitter). The post, which has now been deleted, stressed that the project would be used to fund “small businesses and startups in Argentina” and included the contract address, causing the token’s market value to surge to $4.56 billion, but then quickly fell to $257 million within hours. These new legal challenges build on previous criminal charges in Argentina, alleging that Miley participated in fraud by supporting the token.

▌US Stock Exchange MEMX Apply to SEC for Approval to List 21Shares XRP ETF

US stock exchange MEMX has applied to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for approval to list the 21Shares XRP ETF as a “commodity trust,” and the relevant documents have been submitted to the regulator. The move marks another effort by the US exchange to list an ETF that includes spot XRP. The application also highlights the SEC’s shifting stance on cryptocurrencies.

Blockchain Applications

▌Linea Completes Sybil Appeal Review, Removes 3,500 Misjudged Addresses

Linea officially announced that it has completed the Sybil Attack Appeal Review for the ecosystem and updated the Sybil List. This review confirmed a total of 3,500 misjudged addresses and removed them from the list. Users can check their account status through the official link.

Cryptocurrency

▌Barstool Sports founder mistakenly bought $170,000 of LIBRA Meme coin, causing it to surge 3,000%

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy appears to have mistakenly invested nearly $170,000 in a random LIBRA token - not the controversial token associated with Argentine President Milley.  

Portnoy purchased nearly $170,000 of illiquid LIBRA tokens, causing its price to surge more than 3,000%. The LIBRA token he purchased is a different contract address than the token associated with Milley in recent days.  

If Portnoy sells the random LIBRA token he holds at the current price, he will lose more than half of his investment. Portnoy's investment of about $170,000 in LIBRA tokens is now worth only about $62,000.

▌Analyst: Ethereum's key support level is $2,425

On-chain analyst Ali said on the X platform that the latest on-chain data shows that the most critical support level of Ethereum (ETH) is at $2,425. In this price range, a total of 10.33 million wallet addresses have accumulated about 62.43 million ETH, showing that this price is an important holding cost area for a large number of investors.

▌Analysis: SBF's chances of obtaining conviction clemency remain slim as the backlog of pardon applications continues to increase

With the rise of US President Donald Trump, more and more white-collar criminals, including former FTX CEO SBF, are exploring ways to obtain clemency. However, according to William Livolsi, executive director of the White Collar Support Group, a national advocacy group that advocates for fairer post-sentence policies, the chances of receiving a clemency for a conviction remain slim as the backlog of clemency applications continues to grow.  

Comparing to Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the dark web Silk Road who has been released, Livolsi said: "The comparison between Ulbricht and SBF is not entirely direct. Of course, both are well-known figures in the crypto space, but their individual cases and the sentences they received are very different. In addition, Ulbricht's clemency is publicly tied to a campaign promise made by President Trump to his political supporters." 

The Office of the Pardon Attorney has established a formal application process for clemency requests, which begins with a clemency application and ends with a formal recommendation from the Pardon Attorney. The President then makes a decision on each case. However, after the application is submitted, the seemingly simple process becomes extremely opaque. According to Livolsi, the backlog of applications for the Office of the Pardon Attorney is about 10,000; for a long time, the role of the Office of the Pardon Attorney "has been seriously neglected", and instead, presidents have granted pardons based on political connections, media pressure or personal interests.

▌Trump family project WLFI withdraws 10 million USDC from Binance and purchases 200 million WLFI

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, 6 hours ago, the newly created multi-signature wallet of the Trump family project World Liberty Finance (WLFI for short) has withdrawn 10 million USDC from Binance and purchased 200 million WLFI.

▌Polymarket predicts that the probability of Argentine President Milei leaving office this year has risen to 20%

Prediction market Polymarket data shows that the probability of Argentine President Javier Milei leaving office in 2025 has risen to 20%.  

Previously, Argentine President Milei was charged with fraud for his association with the $LIBRA token project. The project was promoted by him, but the value of the token plummeted 95% from its high point.

▌Redstone COO: Meme coins such as Libra are a great detriment to the entire crypto industry

Redstone COO Marcin Kazmierczak said in an interview with The Block: "Meme coins such as Libra are a great detriment to the entire cryptocurrency industry. There are hundreds of teams investing resources to build unique projects with real applications, but their work is overshadowed by these short-term, scam-driven games. Studies show that every dollar spent on gambling is a dollar taken away from long-term investment." 

He also said: "I think the market is getting more and more tired of these events-ironically, this may be a good thing. As people get tired of the constant Rug, we may see more attention turned to fundamentally sound developments such as DeFi, Crypto x AI and SocialFi. I actually put memecoin "We view this as a stress test for the infrastructure we are building."

Important Economic Dynamics

▌Fed Governor Waller: Inflation is expected to continue to fall and interest rate cuts this year

Fed Governor Waller said that inflation is expected to continue to fall and interest rate cuts this year. The recent consumer price index has been disappointing, but this may be due to seasonal adjustment issues. The impact of tariffs on prices is expected to be mild and non-persistent, and the Fed should strive to ignore this impact when formulating policies.

▌The probability of the Fed keeping interest rates unchanged in March is 97.5%

According to CME's "Fed Watch", the probability of the Fed keeping interest rates unchanged in March is 97.5%, and the probability of a 25 basis point rate cut is 2.5%. The probability of maintaining the current interest rate unchanged by May is 79.2%, the probability of a cumulative 25 basis point rate cut is 20.3%, and the probability of a cumulative 50 basis point rate cut is 0.5%.

▌Bank of America: ECB rate is expected to fall to 1.5% by September

A Bank of America credit investor survey shows that investment-grade credit investors expect the ECB to cut interest rates slightly less than high-yield credit investors. The survey shows that as many as 41% of investment-grade credit investors expect the final value of the ECB's deposit rate to be 2%, while 37% of high-yield credit investors expect the final value to be 1.75%. Bank of America analysts expect the deposit rate to fall to a low of 1.5% by September. The ECB's deposit rate is currently 2.75%.

Golden Encyclopedia

▌What is Fractal Bitcoin

Fractal Bitcoin is an innovative blockchain expansion solution based on recursive virtualization technology. It enhances the scalability of Bitcoin by creating a multi-layer network structure while maintaining a secure connection with the main network. The creation background of Fractal Bitcoin stems from the emergence of the Ordinals protocol and related applications in 2023. For security reasons, Bitcoin has imposed restrictions on opcodes and block storage space in its iterations. When the Bitcoin chain ecosystem develops rapidly, there are limitations in chain computing power and block space, so developers have proposed the concept of fractal Bitcoin, hoping to solve the shortcomings of the Bitcoin network.

Disclaimer: As a blockchain information platform, Golden Finance publishes articles for information reference only and is not intended as actual investment advice. Please establish a correct investment concept and be sure to raise your risk awareness.