Argentine Judge Orders Identification and Freezing of 25 LIBRA-Linked Crypto Wallets

An Argentine federal judge has issued an order for the identification and freezing of 25 cryptocurrency wallets connected to the LIBRA memecoin case. The directive, aimed at holders whose transactions have moved through exchanges including Binance, Bybit, OKX, and Bitfinex, was detailed in a court document reviewed by Clarín.

Judge Marcelo Martínez de Giorgi has mandated the identification of individuals holding these wallets, which have been observed moving digital dollars in recent months. The order also includes a directive to freeze any funds within these wallets. However, it remains unclear whether these wallets still contain assets or if the funds have been moved elsewhere.

The judicial measure stems from a report compiled by the Cybercrime Technical Department of the Argentine Federal Police. This report detailed the tracing of cryptocurrency movements across various networks, commencing in May 2026. According to the police's reconstruction of events, at least ten of the tracked transactions involved centralized platforms such as Binance.

The targeted set of wallets includes eight associated with Bybit, two with OKX, and two with Bitfinex, bringing the total to approximately 25 wallets. Given that centralized exchanges require Know Your Customer (KYC) documentation for account creation, the judge has requested KYC records, associated IP addresses, transaction histories, and any other information that could aid in identifying the responsible parties.

The police report, as cited by Clarín, indicates that a significant outflow of funds occurred on May 10. This outflow utilized an interoperability protocol to transfer 498,539 USDT to a wallet on the Tron network. Subsequently, these funds were reportedly split across 17 transactions in an effort to obfuscate the trail of the money.

Crypto analyst Fernando Molina, who has been credited by Clarín for being among the first to track the LIBRA money trail, reconstructed that approximately $8.2 million had remained dormant before transactions began in May 2026 through the wallets now under judicial scrutiny.

However, Molina cautioned on X on July 14 that the court order is currently a request and has not yet been acted upon by the exchanges. "This is only a request that, as far as we know, has not yet been acted on by the exchanges," Molina stated in Spanish. He added that the money derived from the LIBRA token had not yet been frozen.

The police report also identified a link between four of the eight "Libra Team" wallets and a single wallet designated as "61yk." Clarín reported that this specific wallet has been frozen for nearly six months, following a request from the Southern District of New York in a U.S. case investigating the token's creator, Hayden Davis.

The LIBRA token experienced a sharp collapse in early 2025, occurring minutes after Argentine President Javier Milei promoted it. The Defiant has been monitoring the progression of the Argentine investigation into the matter.

Key facts
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Judicial Action | Order to identify and freeze 25 crypto wallets |
| Alleged Association | LIBRA memecoin case |
| Targeted Platforms | Binance, Bybit, OKX, Bitfinex |
| Investigating Body | Argentine Federal Police, Cybercrime Technical Department |
| Tracing Period | Since May 2026 |
| Analyst Caution | Order is a request, exchanges may not have acted yet |
| Previous Freeze | One linked wallet frozen in a U.S. case |

This development highlights the increasing scrutiny on cryptocurrency transactions, particularly those linked to volatile memecoins or events with significant public attention. The involvement of major centralized exchanges in the judicial order underscores the role of KYC/AML procedures in facilitating investigations. For users of these platforms, this serves as a reminder that their on-chain activities, especially when involving regulated assets or tokens associated with controversial events, can be subject to legal review. The cautionary note from analyst Fernando Molina also emphasizes the importance of verifying official actions rather than relying solely on initial judicial pronouncements. The case also brings to the forefront the challenges in tracing and freezing assets once they have moved through various networks and potentially been mixed or broken down into smaller transactions.

Source: The Defiant - Argentine Judge Orders ID, Freeze of 25 LIBRA-Linked Crypto Wallets (https://thedefiant.io/news/regulation/argentine-judge-orders-id-freeze-of-25-libra-linked-crypto-wallets)