India to adopt BTC as legal tender, was it really the prime minister?

India is gaining eyes from all over the world regarding its crypto law with multiple stories by local media on leaked documents. Earlier today, the Prime Minister of the country, Narendra Modi suffered from his official Twitter account getting hacked, which was then used to mislead the investors about the mainstream Bitcoin adoption and distribution of 500 BTC among the citizens.

Modi said on Friday during a virtual summit hosted by the United States president Joe Biden that crypto should be used to empower democracy, not to undermine it.

The Finance Minister of the country recently cleared the false speculations around the banning of digital assets. India is attracting many firms despite its unclear crypto law. Recently, the Singapore-based crypto exchange Coinstore announced plans to open three offices in the country.

India’s unclear regulatory framework

Recently, the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi during a virtual event summit said that technologies like cryptocurrencies must be utilized to empower democracy. 

The unknown hackers managed to hack the PM’s account with 73.4 million followers to spread fake news on the declaration of Bitcoin as the legal tender. It was midnight when the news came out and several crypto enthusiasts immediately noticed the tweet.

Bitcoin scammers declare the cryptocurrency as India's legal tender. pic.twitter.com/uTe1R7XUWZ

— Priya (@pu_ri_ya) December 11, 2021

The post also included the link to bring investors to sign up and claim their Bitcoin share. Soon after the hack, the tweet was deleted when the Prime Minister’s official account confirmed the attack.

The Twitter handle of PM @narendramodi was very briefly compromised. The matter was escalated to Twitter and the account has been immediately secured.

In the brief period that the account was compromised, any Tweet shared must be ignored.

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) December 11, 2021

Former Finance Secretary Subhash Garg, who was also involved in the bill creation, criticized the notion of prohibiting “private cryptocurrencies” as a misinterpretation, clearing up the suspicions around the crypto bill debates. Garg stated in an interview:

“It was perhaps a mistake. It is misleading to say that private cryptocurrencies will be banned and to intimate the government of India about the same.”