Paraguayan President’s X Account Hacked to Promote Bitcoin Scam

Highlights:

• Hackers posted fake Bitcoin decree from the Paraguayan President’s X account, sparking confusion and concern.
• Fake Bitcoin announcement included a $5M reserve claim and urged users to send crypto funds.
• The crypto market soared to $3.51T as fake news fueled FOMO and massive liquidations.

In a Monday post on X, the Paraguayan government said hackers took over President Santiago Peña’s X account and shared a fake post. The post falsely announced that the country would adopt Bitcoin as official legal money. It also claimed the government created a $5 million Bitcoin reserve and launched a bond program for cryptocurrency users. Moreover, the hacked account showed an image called “Presidential speech about Bitcoin legalization as legal tender”.

Fake Decree Promises Crypto Rollout While Hacker Wallet Remains Empty

The post asked users to send any amount of money to a wallet address shared by the hacker. It claimed that the size of the rollout would depend on how much people invest. On-chain data shows the wallet holds only $4 and has not received any transactions since the announcement. A few minutes after the decree was shared, the Presidency’s official account called it false and told people to ignore any recent posts unless confirmed by the president’s office.

Información falsa. Comunicado oficial de la presidencia de la República del Paraguay. pic.twitter.com/AQfpLQ3idY

— Presidencia Paraguay (@PresidenciaPy) June 9, 2025

Peña’s personal post was no longer visible at the time of writing, but the government’s post remained online. The president’s office stated it was coordinating with the social media platform to address the issue and urged the public to rely only on official sources for accurate information.

The X post followed news that several Central and South American countries were considering adopting Bitcoin as a reserve asset. El Salvador started using Bitcoin as legal money in 2021, pushed by President Nayib Bukele. But after a deal with the IMF in December last year, the legal status of Bitcoin in the country became unclear.

The breach of President Santiago Peña’s official X account is the latest in a series of major social media hacks. Since Elon Musk bought X, which was called Twitter before, in 2022, many hackers have used the platform to push crypto scams. They often break into accounts of famous people or leaders to post false messages.

In September, hackers hijacked the Indian Supreme Court’s YouTube channel to stream promotional ads for the cryptocurrency XRP. Earlier, cybercriminals had also compromised X accounts of public figures and outlets like director Oliver Stone, Neymar Jr., and Yahoo News UK to promote a memecoin.

False News Sparks Crypto Surge and $222M in Liquidations

After the false news from Paraguay spread, Bitcoin’s price rose to $109,450, marking a 3.5% increase in 24 hours. The positive momentum also lifted the altcoin market, with Ethereum (ETH) leading the gains. As a result, the total value of the crypto market rose sharply, reaching $3.42 trillion at the time of writing. The sharp rebound in the crypto market led to over $443 million in liquidations. At the same time, Bitcoin futures Open Interest (OI) jumped from $71 billion to $76.79 billion within 24 hours, driven by growing FOMO among crypto traders.