Paraguay’s government confirmed that President Santiago Peña’s official X (formerly Twitter) account was likely hacked on Monday, after a deceptive post appeared promoting the adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender in the nation. The fraudulent announcement, which swiftly gained traction, was later debunked by the Paraguayan presidency, leading to its deletion.
The suspicious post, written in English, declared that Paraguay had made Bitcoin legal tender and intended to roll out a $5 million Bitcoin-backed reserve fund. It also promised “bond access for crypto-enabled citizens” and urged investors to “secure your stake in Bitcoin now,” including a wallet address. This unusual communication, deviating from the president’s usual Spanish-language posts, immediately raised red flags among observers.
“The president’s official X account has presented irregular activity which suggests possible unauthorized entry,” the government stated, urging citizens to disregard any posts from the account until official confirmation of its security. Paraguay’s national cybersecurity team is actively working with X to investigate the breach and restore control.
While no significant investor losses have been reported, crypto community members noted that the wallet address provided in the scam post contained a mere $4.
This incident marks another instance of a high-profile public figure’s social media account being compromised to propagate Bitcoin-related scams. Notably, former U.S. presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama faced similar Bitcoin-related hacks in 2020, resulting in over $100,000 being stolen from their followers at the time.
Market dynamics
Despite the false announcement, Bitcoin (BTC) saw a brief 4% rise on Monday, surging above $110,000. This market movement also coincided with reports of a meeting in London between U.S. delegates, led by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Chinese representatives, headed by Vice Premier He Lifeng. The discussions centered on tariffs following a recent phone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Top crypto tokens, including Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), XRP, and Cardano (ADA), also experienced narrow gains.
Paraguay has no current plans to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, unlike El Salvador, which took this step in 2021. The nation’s crypto landscape remains under regulatory scrutiny, particularly concerning Bitcoin mining operations.
