SEC Has Not Approved Bitcoin ETFs, but Its Hacked X Account Briefly Said Otherwise

The
U.S.
Securities
and
Exchange
Commission
confirmed
it
has
not
approved
bitcoin
ETF
applications
–
contradicting
its
X
(formerly
Twitter)
account
briefly
saying
otherwise.

“The
SEC’s
@SECGov
X/Twitter
account
has
been
compromised,”
a
spokesperson
said
in
a
statement
to
CoinDesk.
“The
unauthorized
tweet
regarding
bitcoin
ETFs
was
not
made
by
the
SEC
or
its
staff.”

In
a
separate
statement
shared
later,
a
spokesperson
said
“there
was
unauthorized
access
to
and
activity
on”
the
account
by
an
“unknown
party.”
The
party
no
longer
has
that
unauthorized
access,
the
statement
said.

“The
SEC
will
work
with
law
enforcement
and
our
partners
across
government
to
investigate
the
matter
and
determine
appropriate
next
steps
relating
to
both
the
unauthorized
access
and
any
related
misconduct,”
the
statement
said.

For
full
coverage
of
bitcoin
ETFs,
click



here.

SEC
Chair
Gary
Gensler

on
his
own
X
account
said
the
ETFs
have
not
been
authorized.
“The
SEC
has
not
approved
the
listing
and
trading
of
spot
bitcoin
exchange-traded
products,”
he
said.

The
regulator
is
widely
expected
to
approve
spot
bitcoin
ETF
applications
on
Wednesday.
An
SEC
spokesperson
told
CoinDesk
last
week
that
any
approval
for
bitcoin
ETFs
would
appear
in
the
agency’s
EDGAR
database;
X
was
not
given
as
a
means
of
communicating
the
decision.

“Any
Commission
19b-4
orders
will
be
posted
on
our
website
and
then
published
in
the
Federal
Register,”
the
spokesperson
said.

The
compromised
@SECgov
X
account
had
tweeted:
“Today
the
SEC
grants
approval
for
#Bitcoin
ETFs
for
listing
on
all
registered
national
securities
exchanges.
The
approved
Bitcoin
ETFs
will
be
subject
to
ongoing
surveillance
and
compliance
measures
to
ensure
continued
investor
protection.”

It
included
a
graphic
with
a
quote
purportedly
from
Gensler.
The
account
also
posted
a
second
tweet
that
just
said
“$BTC,”
but
this
post
was
almost
immediately
deleted.

Bitcoin

(BTC)

first
jumped
to
nearly
$48,000
immediately
after
the
social
media
post,
then
plummeted
nearly
6%
to
$45,100
when
the
news
turned
out
to
be
false.

The
volatile
period
wiped
out
over
$50
million
of
leveraged
derivatives
trading
positions
within
an
hour,

CoinGlass
data
shows.

UPDATE
(Jan.
9,
2024,
21:40
UTC):

Adds
additional
detail.

UPDATE
(Jan.
9,
21:50
UTC):

Adds
graphics,
context
on
where
an
ETF
approval
may
actually
appear.

UPDATE
(Jan.
9,
23:45
UTC):

Adds
additional
SEC
statement.