The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Wednesday said it is coordinating with law enforcement entities including the Federal Bureau of Investigation on an investigation into a fake post on its X social media account on Tuesday.
"The SEC continues to investigate the matter and is coordinating with appropriate law enforcement entities, including the SEC’s Office of the Inspector General and the FBI," an agency spokesperson said in a statement.
On Tuesday, the SEC announced 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."
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."
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