Bitcoin Jumps; SEC Says X Account 'Compromised'

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Tuesday on X that its account was "compromised" in the late evening after a post was made featuring a picture of the agency's Chair Gary Gensler alongside an accompanying tagline endorsing the approval of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) holding bitcoin.

The since-deleted tweet, sent at 3:11 p.m. stated, "Today the SEC grants approval for #Bitcoin $ ETFs for listing on all registered national securities exchanges. The approved Bitcoin ETFs will be subject to ongoing surveillance and compliance measures to ensure continued investor protection."

An accompanying quote from Gensler in the tweet read, "Today's approval enhances market transparency and provides investors with efficient access to digital asset investments within a regulated framework."

The post was online for roughly 30 minutes, according to The Hill. Subsequently, the price of Bitcoin briefly surged to nearly $48,000 before falling below its price earlier in the day to less than $46,000.

Later, Gensler posted to X that "The SEC 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."

Notably, though, on Gensler's X timeline, his two preceding tweets included a tweet about crypto and a thread about crypto posted on Tuesday.

Fox Business later reported that an investigation into the SEC by the SEC could soon take place.

"Despite the SEC claims of being a victim in the mess," the outlet reported, "lawyers who deal in securities law say the circumstances surrounding the faux posting and the wild swings in Bitcoin it caused should spark an investigation into the SEC by the SEC."

Prior to Fox's news report, rumors on X were already swirling, upon which two narratives have dovetailed: One, that the debacle would turn into an issue of the fox guarding the hen house, i.e., the SEC investigating itself. Or two, that the SEC's X account was not hacked, but X — the platform from where the tweet originated — was hacked.

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