The news of the approval of the Bitcoin ETF applications by the SEC’s official X handle caught everyone by surprise. It led several news outlets to cover the story. However, the story turned out to be incorrect when Gary Gensler, the chair of the SEC, mentioned that the decision was still pending.
Quick Take
- The recent incident highlights the susceptibility of the market to misinformation.
- X clarified that the SEC’s account did not have two-factor authentication working.
- The anticipation of the SEC’s decision on spot Bitcoin ETFs continues to remain strong.
Here’s the fake tweet’s screenshot,
It was later understood that the regulator’s X account had been compromised. The initial, unauthorized post claimed that the SEC had approved Bitcoin ETFs to be listed on the US stock exchange, along with a fake quote from the regulator’s chair.
Many within the crypto market anticipated the SEC to release its decision regarding approving spot Bitcoin ETF anytime soon as countless asset managers completed their final filings.
The SEC Takes it Long into the Deadline Day to Decide on Spot Bitcoin ETFs
Despite ongoing investigations into the recent compromise of its social media account, the SEC still has to decide on the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs. Not too long after the exploit, the SEC confirmed that it was engaging with law enforcement agencies to get the situation under control.
Some analysts speculate that the regulator might use this issue as an excuse to delay its decision. Apart from a significant percentage believing this to be a possibility, others believe that the SEC might end up giving a green light to the Bitcoin ETF applicants on either January 10 or later this week.
Similarly, the US attorney and commercial litigator, Joe Carlasare, claimed that anything is possible at this point. Still, it is highly unlikely that the SEC would reject all applications based on the recent incident.
Crypto Market Rallied Following the False Announcement
Before Gensler highlighted how the SEC’s account was compromised, the crypto market showed increasingly positive growth. Previous statistics show that the trading price of Bitcoin surged by approximately 2.5%, pushing the price as high as $47,901.
The safety team at X has revealed that the SEC did not have two-factor authentication enabled on its account. Therefore, this allowed the hacker to access it easily.
The platform’s safety team also reported that the hacker somehow managed to get their hands on the number associated with the regulator’s account and used that to gain access to the account via a SIM swap hack.
It is believed that the hacker somehow managed to convince a third-party communications provider to grant them control of the number associated with the SEC’s account. Therefore, analysts also say that the blame for this goes on the SEC rather than the crypto market.
However, the clarification from Gensler resulted in an immediate plunge in the trading price. At the time of writing, Bitcoin has dropped by over 2.50% within the previous 24 hours and it currently trading around $44,900.
