US REGULATOR DENIES APPROVING BITCOIN ETFS, SAYS ACCOUNT ON X WAS HACKED

Wed 10 January 2024:

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said Tuesday that it had not yet granted approval of spot-Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), despite a post appearing on its official X account saying it had done so.

“The @SECGov X account was compromised, and an unauthorized post was posted. The SEC has not approved the listing and trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded products,” the SEC said on X.

The price of bitcoin briefly spiked more than $1,000 after the post on X, formerly known as Twitter, claimed “The SEC grants approval for #Bitcoin ETFs for listing on all registered national securities exchanges.” Cryptocurrency investors had already driven bitcoin’s price above $46,000 in anticipation of the approval.

The SEC pulled the initial post. SEC Chair Gary Gensler also announced on X that the SEC’s “Twitter account was compromised.”

The price of bitcoin swung from about $46,730 to just below $48,000 after the unauthorized post hit, and then dropped to around $45,200 after the SEC’s denial. It was trading around $46,150 at 6:15 p.m. ET.

Shortly after Gensler’s statement, it appeared that the SEC had gotten back control over the account.

This is not the first time there has been false market-moving information about the future of bitcoin on regulated exchanges. A false report back in October implied that fund manager BlackRock had gotten approval for bitcoin ETF, causing bitcoin prices to jump sharply.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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