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
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.
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.
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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