Paraguay denies Bitcoin legal tender claim after $5 million hoax

Paraguayan authorities have denied a false social media post that claimed the country had adopted Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) as legal tender and established a $5 million Bitcoin reserve.

The incident began when President Santiago Peña’s personal account on X (formerly Twitter) published a message in English asserting that Paraguay had legalised Bitcoin and included a wallet address for investors to “secure [their] stake.”

Shortly afterward, the official presidential office account posted a statement urging the public to “dismiss any recently published content” that lacked official confirmation.

While the official post remained live, the original message from Peña’s account was deleted.

Officials said they are working with X to investigate the incident and cautioned the public to rely only on verified government communications.

This comes as Latin American interest in Bitcoin adoption remains high, particularly following El Salvador’s 2021 decision to make Bitcoin legal tender.

El Salvador’s legal framework remains under scrutiny following a 2024 agreement with the International Monetary Fund that introduced regulatory ambiguities.

False crypto announcements via hacked social media accounts have become increasingly common.

In 2021, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Twitter account was compromised to falsely claim India had adopted Bitcoin.

Earlier in 2024, a U.S. hacker gained access to the SEC’s X account and published a fake post about spot Bitcoin ETF approval, leading to a criminal conviction and a 14-month prison sentence.

The Paraguayan case underscores the persistent risk of misinformation in the digital age, particularly surrounding cryptocurrency policies.

“Please only consider information issued through official channels,” the Government officials stated, reiterating the importance of verifying news only through official sources.

At the time of reporting, the Bitcoin (BTC) price was $109,629.