It was the moment that the cryptocurrency community had been anticipating. It subsequently was not.
Tuesday afternoon, the value of bitcoin (BTC-USD) surged to approximately $48,000 subsequent to what appeared to be an announcement by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on X, previously Twitter. The SEC reportedly authorized the introduction of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds.
This week, the SEC was anticipated to issue a decision on whether or not fourteen distinct money managers could issue ETFs, thereby enabling retail investors to gain exposure to bitcoin without the need to physically hold it.
SEC Chair Gary Gensler deemed that missive “unauthorized” and “erroneous” fifteen minutes later. Gensler stated that “an unauthorized tweet was published” and that the SEC’s account on that platform had been “compromised” in his own message on X.
“The SEC has not approved the listing and trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded products,” according to him.
The market value of the largest cryptocurrency in the world was reduced by $63 billion in a matter of minutes, falling back to $45,500.
Shortly after the incident, an SEC spokesperson stated that the unauthorized public message on X “was not created by the SEC or its staff.”
The agency provided further clarification several hours later, stating in a statement that it had determined “shortly after 4 pm ET” that an unidentified party had gained unauthorized access to the agency’s @SECGov X account and that the access “has been terminated.”
“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.”
