- The Paraguayan president’s X account was used by scammers to spread false claims that the South American nation had adopted Bitcoin as legal tender and shared a Bitcoin wallet address, urging readers to “secure their stake in Bitcoin now”.
- The post was quickly removed and a statement released from the president’s official government account warning people to disregard the scam post.
Excitement briefly swept through the Bitcoin community overnight, Australian time, after a post from the personal X account of the Paraguayan president, Santiago Peña, claimed the South American nation had adopted Bitcoin as legal tender.
In addition to making Bitcoin legal tender, the post claimed that Paraguay was launching a $5 million Bitcoin reserve and that there would be “bond access for crypto-enabled citizens”. The post said “your investment today will determine the scale of this rollout,” adding that they could “secure their stake in Bitcoin now” followed by a Bitcoin wallet address.
Astute readers will have noticed the whole post seems fishy.
Unsurprisingly — the president’s personal X/Twitter account had, in fact, been hacked and the message was a scam. The scam message was deleted shortly after it was posted.
Related: Elon Musk Confirms Limited Beta for X Money, Full Launch Expected in 2025
Paraguayan Government Quick to Respond
Minutes after the scam post was made, a post from the President’s official government account asked followers to “dismiss any recently published content”.
Several hours after the scam post was made, Peña posted from his personal account thanking the Paraguay government’s Cyber Incident Response Team and the X security team for helping to resolve the incident:
I express my appreciation to the @CERTpy and @X teams for their quick and professional response to the security incident on my official X account. Cybersecurity is key, and these events show us that we must all contribute to building a safe, reliable, and resilient digital ecosystem.
Santiago Peña, Paraguayan PresidentThe scam post came as several Central and South American nations, most notably Panama, are reportedly considering following El Salvador’s lead and adopting Bitcoin as a reserve asset.
Related: El Salvador Defies IMF Deal, Quietly Keeps Buying Bitcoin
El Salvador adopted Bitcoin as legal tender in 2021, however the cryptocurrency’s precise legal status in the Central American nation is now somewhat murky after changes it made to its Bitcoin legislation as part of a December 2024 deal with the International Monetary Fund.
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