The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said on X on Tuesday that its account was “compromised,” and it sent out an “unauthorized post” about bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
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.
— U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (@SECGov) January 9, 2024
The post in question has since been deleted, but it said the SEC approved bitcoin ETFs for trading and briefly caused the price of bitcoin to hit $47,897 before lowering to around $45,000, per Markets Insider.
“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 CNBC.
RELATED: Bitcoin Is Back. Here’s What’s Fueling the Surge.
An SEC spokesperson told CNBC later on Tuesday that an “unknown party” had unauthorized access to the SEC’s X account “for a brief period” just after 4 p.m. ET.
A decision is expected on Wednesday. At least a dozen asset managers, including BlackRock and Fidelity, have filed applications to create the funds.