Gary Gensler says SEC’s X account was compromised, posted fake bitcoin ETF approval news

Fund issuers are not yet cleared to launch funds that would hold bitcoin directly, SEC chair says

January 9, 2024 04:19 pm

Artwork by Crystal Le

Updated Tuesday, Jan. 9 at 4:39 pm ET: Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler posted on X claiming the SEC’s official X account had been compromised.

“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,” Gensler’s account wrote.

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The SEC’s account earlier said it approved spot bitcoin ETFs in an X post Tuesday. The post has now been removed.

But Gensler clarified that the SEC had “not approved” the listing or the trading of the bitcoin ETFs.

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The price of bitcoin spiked sharply on the SEC account post, rising as high as $47,870. Bitcoin is now trading around $46,100 on Coinbase, according to TradingView.

“The SEC’s @SECGov X/Twitter account has been compromised. The unauthorized tweet regarding bitcoin ETFs was not made by the SEC or its staff,” an SEC spokesperson told Blockworks.

CORRECTION: The initial version of this story incorrectly reported that the SEC had approved spot bitcoin ETFs. The story has been updated to reflect the SEC account compromise and agency comments.

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