X confirms SEC account was compromised in Bitcoin ETF debacle

investing.com:

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. 

In a post, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter said that a preliminary investigation showed the account was compromised by a third party gaining access to a phone number associated with the SEC, and that the account did not have two-factor authentication enabled at the time of the breach. 

The announcement comes just a few hours after the SEC’s official X account issued a post that appeared to say that the regulator had approved the listing of an ETF directly tracking the spot price of Bitcoin. 

The fake post read: «Today the SEC grants approval for #Bitcoin ETFs for listing on all registered national securities exchanges.»

Chair Gary Gensler almost immediately responded to the announcement, stating that the official SEC account was compromised and that the post was “unauthorized.” 

Bitcoin jumped following the original SEC post, but later retreated after Gensler revealed that it was fake. Anticipation has been at a fever pitch over the possible approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs, which proponents of the cryptocurrency argue could spur a deluge of capital inflows into the digital asset.

Bitcoin traded down 2.1% at $45,449.9 by 06:42 ET (11:42 GMT), after briefly surging to nearly $48,000 after the fake SEC post. 

The world’s largest cryptocurrency saw a sharp melt-up in the first week of 2024, fueled by growing speculation that the SEC was close to approving a spot Bitcoin ETF. The regulator is expected to unveil a decision this week regarding applications from several fund managers for the