A Hacked SEC Tweet Sent Bitcoin Prices Tumbling
2min read A big blunder occurred in the cryptocurrency sphere: The official X account of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) claimed that a Bitcoin ETF had been approved for listing. This led to a surge in the price of Bitcoin. However, later SEC Chairman Gary Gensler confirmed the account had been hacked, and pushed down Bitcoin prices.
Data from CoinGlass shows this incident caused more than $50 million worth of positions across the network's cryptocurrency market to be blown up within an hour, prompting many crypto investors to call for an investigation into market manipulation.
SEC's official social account was hacked
The incident began on the night of January 9th Eastern Time, when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission posted a notice on its official social media account on X (formerly Twitter), stating that a Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) had been approved for listing.
The post seriously wrote, Today, the SEC grants approval for Bitcoin ETFs for listing on all registered national securities exchanges.
This tweet even included a picture of SEC Chairman Gensler and mimicked his tone to write, Today's approval enhances market transparency and provides investors with the opportunity to efficient access to digital asset investments within a regulated framework.
Strangely, the post did not have any links to the SEC website, which is not consistent with the common practices of official agencies like the SEC, as they usually include links to the official website in their social media posts.
Shortly thereafter, the message on the X account was immediately deleted. Shortly after, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler posted on his personal account that the agency's official account had been intruded and an unauthorized tweet had been posted.
He further clarified, The SEC Twitter account was compromised, and an unauthorized tweet was posted. The SEC has not approved the listing and trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded products
The SEC's official X account subsequently posted again to echo Gensler's statement about the hack, and a spokesperson for the agency also confirmed the statement to the media.
Although the SEC's fraudulent post was only posted for a few minutes and then deleted, it still succeeded in causing a significant rise in the price of Bitcoin, which rose from around $46,746 to $47,863. After Gensler's clarification, Bitcoin prices once again fell back in an instant, and as of press time, it has dropped to $46,122.
This drastic fluctuation in the price of Bitcoin has drawn the ire of many investors in the crypto circle, who have called for an investigation into this market manipulation. Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss even blatantly said it would be great if the SEC stopped manipulating the Bitcoin market.
Market heavily dependent on the fate of Bitcoin spot ETF
Whether the SEC approves the Bitcoin spot ETF is the topic of greatest concern to those in the coin circle, and it is currently the news that could most impact the price of Bitcoin. This may well be the primary reason the hacker hijacked the SEC's account and posted the fake message.
After years of opposing Bitcoin ETFs, the SEC is expected to make a decision this week on whether to approve Bitcoin ETF applications.
More than a dozen asset management companies have submitted applications to create a Bitcoin spot ETF, many of which made their latest registration statements on Tuesday morning.
The general positive expectation at the moment is that the SEC will announce the approval of the Bitcoin spot ETF application on Wednesday. This is one of the reasons the price of Bitcoin has been on the rise in recent months.
Perhaps because the timing of the hacker's fake message was not the general market expectation of Wednesday Eastern Time and because the platform for publishing was not the SEC's official website, this fake message dumbfounded many market players for a moment. But after the SEC's clarification, many market players took it as a minor unexpected interlude.
Ophelia Snyder, co-founder, and president of 21Shares, who is seeking to launch a Bitcoin ETF in collaboration with ARK Investments, said: I don't think it will affect the process or what comes next
Just add this to the long list of surprising plot twists and turns in the 10-plus year effort to bring a spot Bitcoin ETF to market, said Nate Geraci, president of The ETF Store, an advisory firm.