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SEC’s X Account Hacked to Announce Fake Bitcoin ETF Approval

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SEC's X Account Hacked to Announce Fake Bitcoin ETF Approval

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) account on the X platform was compromised to publish a false message claiming approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs.

The now-deleted tweet falsely stated that the regulator had approved the listing of products on all registered national securities exchanges, allegedly quoting SEC Chairman Gary Gensler.

Source: Axios.

“The SEC’s account on the X platform was hacked, and an unauthorized post was published. The Commission has not approved the listing and trading of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded products,” wrote the head of the agency.

The price of the leading cryptocurrency surged to $48,000 following the fake SEC announcement. After the misinformation was corrected, the price adjusted. At the time of publication, it was near $46,000, down 1.5% over the day (CoinGecko).

15-minute BTC/USDT chart on Binance. Source: TradingView.

The security team at X confirmed the compromise of the SEC’s page following a preliminary investigation. According to their statement, the attacker gained control over a phone number linked to the account. There was no breach of the social platform’s systems. Experts also noted that two-factor authentication was not enabled on the Commission’s account.

The SEC stated it would contact law enforcement and government agencies regarding the investigation and subsequent steps, reports The Block.

Community Raises Questions

Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas suggested that the Bitcoin ETF approval message might have been the result of an error by someone at the agency.

“I think someone prepped a planned tweet and put the wrong date, because the publication would have made PERFECT sense tomorrow at this time. The language sounds quite legitimate, in my opinion, in the spirit of the SEC, rather than a crypto prankster, but we’ll see,” he wrote.

His conclusion was shared by several commentators, including SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci.

“I agree. Very precise language, graphics, everything else,” noted lawyer Scott Johnsson.

Other users doubted the authenticity of the tweet, noting that it used a hashtag and Bitcoin emoji, which they believed the regulator would unlikely do.

Some noted that control over the SEC’s X account was restored very quickly — only 15 minutes elapsed between the fake tweet and the correction.

This speed raised suspicions that it was deliberate market manipulation rather than the result of a hack.

Incident Draws Attention from U.S. Lawmakers

Senator Bill Hagerty called the incident with the Commission’s account “unacceptable” and stated that Congress “needs a clear answer.”

“Fraudulent announcements like the one made on the SEC’s social media can manipulate markets. We need transparency on what happened,” wrote his colleague Cynthia Lummis.

Senators J.D. Vance and Thom Tillis demanded that the Commission provide explanations regarding the erroneous Bitcoin ETF approval message within four days.

“It is unacceptable that the agency entrusted with regulating the epicenter of the world’s capital markets would make such a colossal error,” the letter stated.

Earlier in January, hackers breached the X accounts of Netgear and Hyundai to promote crypto scams.

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