Gary Gensler News

Why it is important

The SEC has at long last approved spot-price bitcoin ETFs, though it did not do so entirely willingly and will all but certainly be watching product providers very closely.

ETFs) to track bitcoin, its Chair Gary Gensler said, in a watershed for the world's largest cryptocurrency and the broader crypto industry. The agency approved applications, including from BlackRock, Ark Investments and 21Shares, Fidelity, Invesco, and VanEck, among others, according to a notice on its website. Some products are expected to begin trading as early as Thursday. The products — a decade in the making — would be a game-changer for bitcoin, offering institutional and retail investors exposure to the world's largest cryptocurrency without directly holding it, and a major boost for a crypto industry beset by a string of scandals. Standard Chartered analysts this week said the ETFs could draw $50 billion to $100 billion this year alone, driving the price of bitcoin as high as $100,000. Other analysts have said inflows will be closer to $55 billion over five years.

By Hannah Lang and Suzanne McGee

The SEC has approved 11 spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds, the government agency said on Wednesday. The news comes one day after the SEC's X, formerly Twitter, account was hacked, announcing the same news.

The Securities and Exchange Commissions says a post on X announcing that the agency had approved exchange-traded funds holding bitcoin was “unauthorized,” and that the agency’s account was hacked

On Tuesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) official X account was apparently hacked, with a tweet falsely claiming that Bitcoin ETF applications had been approved. The ensuing chaos following the false tweet demonstrated the ongoing anticipation surrounding this long-awaited development.

Coinbase executives have offered to help the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) following the Monday hack of the federal agency’s account on X. 

It’s “all systems go” as the crypto community waits for SEC approval of a spot bitcoin ETF, according to senior ETF analyst, Eric Balchunas.

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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said its account on social network X was “compromised,” leading to a spike in the price of Bitcoin and raising fresh questions about X’s reliability as a source of information and the strength of its security practices.

A new analysis has revealed that the recent Bitcoin price crash was a reaction to what was believed to be genuine news of spot ETFs getting approved, resulting in a classic “sell the news event.”

This week, financial markets are keenly focused on Bitcoin, particularly anticipating the potential launch of the first ETFs based on Bitcoin's spot price.

Bitcoin dropped to around $45,000 before paring losses after a false post on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s X account claimed that the agency had approved the issuance of ETFs holding the digital asset. 

Investing.com — Social media platform X said on Wednesday that the Securities and Exchange Commission’s account was compromised when it made a fake post about the regulator approving a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund. 

Two United States senators, J.D. Vance and Thom Tillis, have raised concerns about the recent breach of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) X (formerly Twitter) account. 

The spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) competition is heating up as major issuers including Fidelity submitted revisions to lower their fees.

The posting, which has since been deleted, pre-empted an imminent announcement from the SEC about whether it will approve the trading of spot bitcoin ETFs. The fake post featured a photo of SEC chair Gary Gensler and a convincing quote: "Today's approval enhances market transparency and provides investos with efficient access to digital asset invesments within a regulated framework."Within fifteen minutes of the post going live on X, Gensler hastily took to the platform to deny that any such approval had been given.

Valkyrie Funds Chief Investment Officer Steven McClurg says it wouldn’t be surprising if a Ripple and Ethereum spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) came to the market speaking in an interview with Bloomberg TV.

Bitcoin dropped to around $45,000 before paring losses after a false post on the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s X account claimed that the agency had approved the issuance of ETFs holding the digital asset. 

The token dipped to $46,850 as of 1:05 p.m. Tuesday in Singapore after a 6.5% jump on Monday in the US to a 21-month high. Bitcoin’s new year climb now stands at 10%, contrasting with drops over the same period in stocks and gold. The crypto market expects a green light for US spot Bitcoin ETFs by a Jan. 10 deadline. Prospective issuers such as BlackRock Inc., Fidelity Investments and Ark Investment Management updated paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the regulator has until Wednesday to take action on at least one of the applications. Speculators are wagering that the agency will announce a slew of decisions at once to avoid handing out a first-mover advantage. If the funds are approved, the next question is how much money they will woo. Bitcoin is up 173% in the past 12 months in a sign that traders anticipate wider adoption of the token.