Gensler’s post came 15 minutes after the SEC’s X account falsely reported that spot Bitcoin ETFs were approved.
Breaking news
Multiple news outlets released a false story following the official X (formerly Twitter) account from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), posting a tweet claiming that the regulator had approved spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds for the first time.
In a Jan. 9 X post, SEC chair Gary Gensler said the commission had “not approved the listing and trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded products,” despite a tweet from the official SEC X account. News outlets, including Cointelegraph, Blockworks, and Reuters initially reported on the story from the SEC before Gensler’s statement.
The @SECGov twitter account was compromised, and an unauthorized tweet was posted. The SEC has not approved the listing and trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded products.
— Gary Gensler (@GaryGensler) January 9, 2024
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 Jan. 9 X post from the official SEC account claimed that the commission had granted approval for Bitcoin ETFs for listing on U.S. exchanges, showing a photo and faked quote from the SEC chair. The offending tweet was up for several minutes before being removed.
At the time of publication, it’s unclear who was responsible for hacking the SEC account and issuing the tweet. Many had expected the commission to be releasing a decision on a spot Bitcoin ETF sometime in the next two days after several asset managers completed some of the last filings for their applications.
This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.