The Twitter account of India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, was "briefly compromised" by a hacker or a group of hackers who used it to promote Bitcoin. The hackers published a post on Modi's accounts indicating the nation's intention to adopt the cryptocurrency and to distribute some of it to citizens.
The hack was likely an attempt to pump up the price of the cryptocurrency, which recently breached the $50,000 per coin over the weekend. The prime minister's office said on Sunday that the hacked account had already been reported to Twitter, which had immediately secured it from unauthorized users.
Indian officials confirmed that Modi's account was compromised for a brief period, and any tweets published from the account in the past days "must be ignored."
Twitter users were quick to take a screenshot of one of Modi's tweets, which stated that India had officially accepted Bitcoin as legal tender. The tweet said the government had already bought about 500 Bitcoins, which is equivalent to about $24.5 million based on Monday's prices. The tweet then went on to say that the government would be distributing the Bitcoins it had purchased to all residents of the country.
The tweet, which had also contained a possible scam link, has since been deleted. Modi currently has more than 70 million followers on his Twitter account, making him one of the most followed leaders in the world.
India currently does not recognize Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency as legal tender. In recent months, the country had even considered a ban on cryptocurrency trading and crypto-related activities.
Last month, Modi's administration claimed it was working on a measure that would prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in India, but it would also allow for some exclusion to promote the underlying technology of cryptocurrency and its usage.
There's a lot of space for interpretation in the language used in the bill's description. Because the measure doesn't define "private" cryptocurrencies, it's unclear whether it includes the world's most widely traded coins, such as bitcoin and ethereum. The Indian finance ministry has not yet officials commented on the proposed measure, which has yet to be introduced to parliament.
El Salvador became the first government in the world to accept Bitcoin as legal tender in September. The country's president, Nayib Bukele, said last month that he plans to establish the world's first "Bitcoin City," which will be funded by Bitcoin-backed bonds.
