The Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced its agency account was hacked following a post announcing the approval of Spot Bitcoin ETF on January 9. The SEC announced that the post was unauthorized. However, the approval of the ETF will still happen this week, with today being the deadline. According to the agency, the compromise of the SEC account occurred through an unauthorized individual who acquired the phone number associated with the account.
The fake message was deleted 20 minutes after being posted on the SEC account. The fake news caused market volatility and commotion on social media accounts. However, the SEC, announced it was engaging with the authorities to investigate the matter. Nonetheless, the approval of Bitcoin ETF will experience a delay. But ETF Bloomberg Analyst Eric Bulchanas is positive; he anticipates the approval to happen between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. UTC.
Moreover, the X safety team went on and did their investigation and came up with a report stating that the SEC did not have two-factor authentication (2FA) on its main X account, which led to easy access to the SEC account. The safety team went ahead and stated “Based on our investigation, the compromise was not due to any breach of X’s systems, but rather due to an unidentified individual obtaining control over a phone number associated with the @SECGov account through a third party.”
This information was not, however, well received. ZachXBT on his X account went ahead and poured comic comments in regards to Gary Gensler’s previous post. Additionally, Senator Vance joined individuals who were seeking answers to the report. “It is unacceptable that the agency entrusted with regulating the epicentre of the world’s capital markets would make such a colossal error,” said Senator Vance on the X account.
The controversy sent some shockwaves to the crypto market. The fake news on the SEC’s X account triggered volatility in the Bitcoin market. The coin’s price soared to the $47,900 mark, gaining a significant 3%. This joyful news was cut short after investors realized the ETF approval news was fake! The price dropped significantly below the $46,000 mark to $45,200. Currently, the market is gaining momentum, and the coin is trading at the $46,000 mark at the time of writing.