Gary Gensler, the SEC chairperson, recently confirmed that the SEC Twitter/X account was compromised.
The chairperson stated that the US Securities and Exchange Commission has yet to approve any Bitcoin ETF product. While the X/Twitter account was compromised, the unidentified party released an unauthorized post.
The tweet read, “The SEC has approved Bitcoin ETFs today. Now, the product will be listed on registered national securities exchanges.”
“The approval elevates market transparency and gives investors access to digital asset investments in a regulated framework.”
This caused the market to be manipulated into believing that the SEC had authorized a Bitcoin ETF, as anticipated. The price of Bitcoin nearly soared to $48,000 following the post.
However, after Gary Gensler reported the false approval, Bitcoin experienced a 6% immediate decline to $45,100. Currently, Bitcoin is priced at $45,934, with a 1.65% market dip.
A spokesperson addressed the issue in another interview shortly after the incident. The spokesperson claimed that an unknown party was responsible for the illegal activity. The unauthorized access has been removed successfully.
The SEC is collaborating with government partners and law enforcement to investigate the matter further. The parties will determine the next steps related to the misconduct and the breach, added the spokesperson.
The Safety Team from X/Twitter also addressed the concern. The team revealed that the SEC X/Twitter account did not have 2-factor authentication enabled. Thus, the attacker was able to take over a phone number related to the social media handle.
A major reason why the market believed the tweet is the widespread whispers about the SEC set to approve Bitcoin ETFs in a couple of days. However, no official statement has been released on the matter.
A SEC spokesperson stated that any news regarding the ETFs’ approval will be made on the EDGAR database. X/Twitter is not the means of communication to convey the decision.
The spokesperson stated that every Commission 19b-4 order will show up on the official website before being published in the Federal Register. In the meantime, crypto enthusiasts are asking the SEC about the repercussions of market manipulation done from their social media handles.
