The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday said its account on X was hacked and dubbed “unauthorized” the post sent from the agency’s account on the social platform announcing the approval of a long-awaited bitcoin exchange-traded fund.
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 deleted the post roughly 30 minutes after it appeared.
An ETF would provide a way to invest in Bitcoin without buying the cryptocurrency outright on a crypto exchange such as Binance or Coinbase.
But soon after the initial post appeared, SEC Chairperson Gary Gensler said on his personal account that the SEC’s account was compromised and, “The SEC has not approved the listing and trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded products.” Gensler called the post unauthorized without providing further explanation.
Security analysts called the incident disquieting.
“Something like that, where you can take over the SEC account and potentially affect the value of bitcoin in the market – there’s a massive opportunity for disinformation,” said Austin Berglas, a former cybersecurity official at the FBI’s New York office and a senior executive at the security firm BlueVoyant.
“Welp,” wrote Cory Klippsten, CEO of Swan Bitcoin, on X. Like many bitcoin investors, Klippsten had been expecting the agency to approve bitcoin ETFs potentially as soon as this week.
The price of Bitcoin swung from about $46,730 to just below $48,000 after the unauthorized post hit and 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 regained control over the account.
It was unclear exactly how the SEC’s social media account was hacked. X’s @Safety account tweeted on Tuesday night that a preliminary investigation by the platform determined “an unidentified individual” got control of a phone number associated with the account “through a third party.”
It did not elaborate, though it did say that the compromised SEC account, @SecGov, did not have two-factor authentication activated.
It said the compromise was not due to any breach of X’s systems.
Even before that news, politicians who have long expressed frustration at how Gensler operates the SEC – Republicans in particular – expressed anger at what they suggested were lax SEC security controls over its accounts.
“Just like the SEC would demand accountability from a public company if they made a colossal market-moving mistake, Congress needs answers on what just happened,” said Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, who sits on the Senate Banking Committee.
On Tuesday, an SEC spokesperson said that the agency was working with law enforcement and others in the government to investigate the matter.
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.
Elon Musk gutted Twitter’s content moderation and security teams after taking over the platform in late 2022. And while internet watchdog groups have complained about a spike in toxic content, including antisemitic and other hate speech on X, many also worry about account integrity.
“The consequences of account takeovers could potentially be significant, and especially during an election year,” said Brett Callow, an analyst with the cybersecurity firm Emsisoft.
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