The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Tuesday that someone posted a fake message on Platform X's social media accounts claiming to have approved the highly anticipated Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund.
An SEC spokesperson said the regulator had not yet approved the Spot Bitcoin ETF, adding that the agency's accounts had been compromised. A spokesperson did not provide additional details.
The unauthorized post on X, formerly known as Twitter, comes after SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said the SEC had given approval for a Bitcoin ETF on all registered domestic securities exchanges. It included a photo that allegedly featured the quote. The post was picked up by Reuters and other news outlets that monitor SEC accounts. After this post, the price of Bitcoin skyrocketed.
The post comes at a potential watershed moment for the cryptocurrency industry, with the SEC widely expected to finally approve a series of ETFs that track the price of Bitcoin on Wednesday. This unauthorized post shocked the industry and left insiders scrambling to find out if it was true and why the SEC would publish something on social media in the first place.
Executives at some ETF issuers, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said they were surprised and surprised by the initial tweets.
One executive said he was “concerned” that the SEC would delay or suspend approval of the Spot Bitcoin ETF as a result of the hack.
Seward & Kissel attorney Anthony Zu Sekine said he doesn't think the case will change the chances of approval at this late stage.
Tsekine said it was unclear why someone would do something like that when approval was already widely expected. “This is really puzzling,” Tou Sekine said.
By 4:11 p.m. ET, the SEC's X account post had received at least 1 million views. Within 20 minutes, the file disappeared and appeared to be deleted.
Bitcoin's price soared to around $48,000 after the fake post, but fell to below $45,000 minutes later. It last fell 3.15% to $45,513 after the SEC removed the information and disavowed it. Some analysts had expected Bitcoin to fall on the ETF approval after rising more than 70% in recent months on hopes of a green light.
The SEC declined to say whether the agency had opened an investigation into the breach or whether the incident would affect potential approvals. The SEC has previously rejected all proposals for spot Bitcoin ETFs, citing fears of market manipulation.
X accounts, like accounts on other social media platforms, can be hijacked by stealing passwords or tricking targets into giving up their login credentials.
Accounts can also be hijacked by compromising the social media platform itself. For example, in 2020, a teenage hacker and his friend infiltrated his X internal computer network, took control of dozens of high-profile accounts, and used that access to promote cryptocurrency fraud. did.
Affected accounts at the time included those of Barack Obama, Kim Kardashian, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk.
A spokesperson for Company X did not respond to a request for comment.
