Argentina’s Cabinet Shaken: Manuel Adorni Resigns Amid Bitcoin Probe

Argentine Cabinet Chief Resigns After Disclosing $200K in Early Bitcoin Investments

The Argentine government is facing yet another crisis linked to bitcoin and the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

Manuel Adorni, former chief of Javier Milei’s government, has announced his resignation after what he qualified as a relentless media attack on his person, as he has been facing an illicit enrichment probe since early March over more than $500k he kept off books for years.

Adorni filed amended statements claiming that these funds were part of his earnings after investing $200k on bitcoin back in 2013. “In 2013, I started investing heavily in bitcoin, around $200k, and I earned $300k. And in 2018, I started liquidating,” he stressed in a TV interview on June 10.

Blockworks’ Fernando Molina found a wallet that corresponded with the movements described by Adorni. This would account for only $60k in earnings, falling short of the alleged $300k in revenue Adorni reported. Nonetheless, he also stressed that the operations were not confined to only one BTC wallet.

He also stressed that by 2014, only 2.86% (87k wallets) of all wallets held BTC worth more than $10k, while only 0.48% owned BTC worth more than $56k, putting Adorni at the top of the bitcoin ownership podium at that time.

“Tonight I am going to 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 might one day achieve the same,” Adorni said in a resignation letter posted on social media on Saturday.

Even so, doubts remain over the truthfulness of his statements, given the difficulties of acquiring larger amounts of bitcoin circa 2013. La Nacion’s Hugo Alconada also stressed that he did not specify the origin of the funds for his initial BTC purchase.

“From which bank account did he deposit money into the exchange to buy Bitcoin? That FIAT (legal tender) traceability is documentable in bank records. Adorni did not contribute anything,” Alconada declared.

Adorni’s corruption scandal and his recent resignation come after President Milei faced heavy criticism over his links to the Libra token scheme, with thousands investing (and losing) millions of dollars in a token promoted by Milei using his social media account.