SEC Twitter Account Hacked to Post Fake Bitcoin News

The tweet sent the value of Bitcoin on a rollercoaster ride.

Fake News

Regulators had to do some emergency damage control after the X-formerly-Twitter account of the Securities and Exchange Commission got hacked on Tuesday.

In a since-deleted post, the account claimed that the regulator had approved a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) "on all registered national securities exchanges," which sent the price of Bitcoin soaring to almost $48,000 before plummeting to below $46,000 within just minutes.

That's likely because SEC chairman Gary Gensler quickly chimed in from his personal account, tweeting that the account was "compromised."

"The SEC has not approved the listing and trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded products," he added.

Held to Account

The incident once again highlights the volatility of the digital token and the growing anticipation of a potential SEC announcement this week that could see the potential approval of a "spot Bitcoin ETF."

Such an ETF would allow brokers to directly invest in the digital currency in a more regulated manner, thereby potentially allowing crypto to take a step forward in terms of being accepted by mainstream financial markets.

The hope of such an approval is already having knock-on effects, with cryptocurrency Ether jumping today over widespread optimism.

So who's to blame for the gaff? In an update, X said that according to its "preliminary 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."

In other words, the SEC should probably invest some more time dialing in its cybersecurity measures before making any major Bitcoin-related announcements.

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