Paraguay President Disowns Hacked X Post Declaring Bitcoin Legal Tender

Paraguay President Santiago Peña has disowned a post from his official X account that falsely claimed the country had adopted Bitcoin as legal tender.

His office said the official X account had ”presented irregular activity that suggests possible unauthorized access” and asked the public to ignore its content.

Paraguay President X Account Said Bitcoin Is Legal Tender

The unauthorized post had said in English that Paraguay has made Bitcoin legal tender in the country. The now-deleted post added that Paraguay has established a BTC reserve with $5 million, and also provided a wallet address for investors to “secure [their] stake.” 

The address shared in the post had barely been used, and only had around $4 worth of BTC. Peña’s post yesterday was also the first one that had been written in English, adding to concerns that his account may have been hacked.

Paraguay’s national cybersecurity team is currently working with X to investigate the situation. 

Growing Trend Of X Hacks To Promote Crypto Scams

X has been a playground for cybercriminals over the years. Yesterday’s apparent scam post is the latest in a growing trend of compromised accounts of influential figures promoting sham tokens and schemes.

In 2020, for example, hackers were able to gain access to dozens of high-profile accounts, including those belonging to Elon Musk, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Bill Gates, Kanye West as well as companies like Apple, Uber, McDonald’s and others. 

Peña’s post yesterday also comes amid reports that some countries in Central and South America are considering following in El Salvador’s lead and looking into making Bitcoin legal tender.

In Paraguay, politicians are still trying to structure a regulatory framework to supervise and support the growing crypto industry.