Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Twitter account was “briefly compromised”, his office said on Sunday after it promised to give away Bitcoins.

“The matter was escalated to Twitter and the account has been immediately secured,” his office tweeted. “In the brief period that the account was compromised, any Tweet shared must be ignored.”

Many Twitter users shared the post that was posted from the Prime Minister’s profile.

“India has officially adopted Bitcoin as legal tender,” the tweet, which has now been deleted, said. “The government has officially bought 500 BTC [bitcoins] and is distributing them to all residents of the country.”

Bitcoin is a form a cyrptocurrency, a currency that exists digitally or virtually, which is protected by cryptography. This refers to a method of encrypting communication using a code so that it can be only be accessed by people for whom it is intended.

Currently, there are no regulations on the use of cryptocurrencies in India.

The Centre is planning introduce a Bill during the Winter Session to ban private cryptocurrencies in India and introduce an official digital currency issued by the Reserve Bank of India.

Political activist Tehseen Poonawalla tweeted, asking if Modi’s account was hacked.

Srinivas BV, the national president of Indian Youth Congress, tweeted: “Good Morning Modi ji, Sab Changa Si [is everything alright]?”

Earlier in September 2020, an unidentified group had hacked the Twitter account linked to Modi’s personal website and mobile application.