Opposition politicians in Argentina have called for the impeachment of president Javier Milei after he touted a cryptocurrency which quickly collapsed and reportedly led to millions of dollars in losses this weekend.

Milei endorsed the little-known cryptocurrency token $Libra on Friday evening, announcing on X that the project was “dedicated to boosting the growth of the Argentine economy by funding small businesses and entrepreneurs”. His post linked to a website where the digital coin could be bought, the domain name of which included Milei’s popular catchphrase “long live freedom”.

“The world wants to invest in Argentina,” Milei added in the post to his more than 3.8 million followers.

The token immediately soared in value, from almost zero at the time of its launch to nearly $5, before plummeting to under $1, according to trading sites. Argentina’s fintech chamber said that the case could amount to a “rug pull” – a scam which sees cryptocurrency rapidly inflated, or “pumped”, before crashing while insiders “dump” their stake, making the tokens worthless. Other economists and crypto specialists said the digital asset could be a fraud or Ponzi scheme.

Milei deleted his post hours later, saying he was “not aware of the details of the project”, but the scandal has nonetheless sparked a political firestorm, and the federal prosecutor’s office will reportedly now examine whether the president engaged in fraud or criminal association or was in breach of his duties.

A group of lawyers filed fraud complaints in the criminal court on Sunday, saying they “criminally denounce the president of the Argentine nation, Javier Milei, because we believe that he is a fundamental participant in the development, execution and planning of the mega-scam related to the launch of the $Libra token”.

Jonatan Baldiviezo, a lawyer and one of the plaintiffs, told the Associated Press that he saw an illicit association to commit “an indeterminate number of frauds” in the episode. “Within this illicit association, the crime of fraud was committed, in which the president’s actions were essential,” he said.

Opposition lawmakers, meanwhile, are calling for Milei’s impeachment. “This scandal, which embarrasses us on an international scale, requires us to launch an impeachment request against the president,” said lawmaker Leandro Santoro, a member of the opposition coalition.

Myriam Bregman, a prominent socialist leader and former presidential candidate, said “Milei is the one who must answer to the Congress. We want to know, step by step, who has benefited from it and how. This is not the first time he has been involved in something like that, but it is aggravated by his current role as president.”

Former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner wrote on social media: “You promoted a private cryptocurrency from your official X account, created by who knows who. You inflated its value taking advantage of your presidential investiture. And, to top it all off, you say that you were ‘unfamiliar’! … From self-proclaimed ‘global leader’ to CRYPTO SCAMMER.”

Latin American leaders also weighed in, with Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, saying that “it is extremely serious if confirmed, especially in terms of a president’s powers to promote something private”.

The incident has prompted comparisons with the US president, Donald Trump, who last month launched the $Trump memecoin, which also surged before crashing.

Milei retaliated to the criticism by blaming his opponents, whom he called “filthy rats of the political caste”, and saying they wanted to “take advantage of this situation to do harm”. The presidential office said that Milei was not involved in any stage of the cryptocurrency’s development and decided to remove the social media post to limit further exposure. It added that the anti-corruption office had been instructed to start an investigation.

Political analyst Marcelo García, of the Horizon Engage political risk consultancy firm, said Milei and his government need to “contain the crisis by giving a clear explanation of what happened” in order to prevent the incident from “escalating to a credibility crisis that could discourage the largest investment community”.

Cryptocurrency has exploded in Argentina in recent years, as disillusioned savers sought to keep their money outside traditional banks amid a decades-long economic crisis and soaring inflation rates.

Analysts have warned that the crisis could damage Milei’s reputation as a custodian of economic recovery – and an anti-corruption president – ahead of midterm elections later this year.