No, former New Zealand PM did not advise to buy Bitcoin

“I have invested in Bitcoin because I believe in its potential, the capacity it has to transform global payments is very exciting.” Ladies and gentlemen, you have just read the statement of the former New Zealand Prime Minister from the parallel universe, because in this one he actually did not tell anything remotely similar about Bitcoin.

John Key, who was a Prime Minister of New Zealand from 2008 to 2016, vehemently denied the news which were found shared on Facebook. The screenshot of the post in the New Zealand Herald is fake, confirms the real outlet. Nobody knows who and with what intentions posted this, but now John Key is outraged by this untruthful information (or simply fake news) and tries to get Facebook to delete it. Facebook, as it should be reminded here, vowed to clear itself of fake news.

The rise of fake messages about Bitcoin is yet another indicator of the overall market rise. One can almost certainly expect the rise of spam messages regarding Bitcoin and hack attacks on weak wallet services, as more and more people, including those with shady intentions, are currently familiarizing themselves with the concept.

Another interesting example of fake news was correctly spotted by Bitnewstoday during the unrest in Catalonia. According to the local Spanish outlets, the self-proclaimed leaders of Catalonia wanted to issue cryptocurrency and contacted Vitalik Buterin who advised to open a special ICO. But Bitnewstoday wrote back then that this is not in his style and requires confirmation. And lo - during the following days he denied these rumors. Good advice about combating fake news, then, is to ask yourself about the actual likelihood of rumor you just read.