The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) tweets out fake news that the spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have been approved.
However, the securities agency and Chairman Gary Gensler are saying the account was compromised.
What does this mean for the actual approval of the Bitcoin ETFs, which are anticipated to be announced on January 10th?
SEC’s X Account Compromised, Bitcoin ETFs Still Pending
According to the SEC and Gary Gensler, the SEC X account was compromised. And they tweeted out that the agency has not yet approved the listing and trading of spot Bitcoin ETFs.
In a now deleted post, the misleading announcement looked legit as well as the voicing, wording, and there was even an image of Gary Gensler with a quote. But of course it was fake.
Gensler also tweeted out, “The @SECGov 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.”
Read: SEC Chair Gary Gensler Posts FUD Targeting Cryptos Amid The Expected Spot Bitcoin ETF Rulings
Are We Still Getting A Spot Bitcoin ETF?
So, what does this mean for the ultimate approvals, which were anticipated to happen on January 10th, and to start trading on the 11th? We will have to wait and see.
The recent issues were a complete mess, and it would not surprise me if the SEC delayed a few days to let the dust settle here and figure out what is happening.
Most analysts still think that things will still go on track because this is not something you do overnight. And there is usually a lot of prep work, letters, and a lot of disclosures. So it could be that things will still go as smoothly as possible tomorrow.
Read: Bitcoin’s Next Chapter: What To Expect After Spot Bitcoin ETFs Have Been Approved?
Gensler Has A Track Record Of Being A “Royal Screw Up”
Gary Gensler was part of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). And under him, the MF Global collapse and a whole bunch of nonsense that took place in 2008 happened under his watch.
So Gensler has a track record of a “royal screw up” as a regulator. And we know that under the SEC, he let Celsius collapse, he let FTX collapse, and he was meeting with Sam Bankman-Fried along with FTX officials.
We also have US Senator Bill Hagerty noticing the recent issue, tweeting out, “Just like the SEC would demand accountability from a public company if they made such a colossal market-moving mistake, Congress needs answers on what just happened. This is unacceptable.”
Speculations From The Crypto Community
Speculations from the crypto community theorizes that the now deleted post was actually real but was misscheduled.
Because the tweet looked legit — it looked like it was a scheduled tweet and maybe someone screwed up and tweeted it out early, right? I am not saying that it is likely, but it is possible.
Another point to consider is, why would the hacker tweet out the approval instead of a denial? The hacker could have instead tweeted a denial to crash the price of Bitcoin.
Senior ETF Analyst for Bloomberg Eric Balchunas also tweeted out the following, “I think someone prepped a planned tweet and put the wrong date, because the tweet would have made PERFECT sense tomorrow at this time. The language sounds legit SEC-ish IMO vs a crypto knucklehead pulling a prank but I guess we’ll see..”
Final Thoughts
Was it really a hack? Or was it something else that was someone pulling the strings? If this was not market manipulation, then I don’t know what is. This is the exact type of thing the SEC is meant to stop — it is supposed to be the agency that protects consumers and investors from these false announcements. But one thing for sure is that this whole debacle further destroys Gensler’s political optics due to the highlights of his failures.