SEC Refutes Bitcoin ETF Approval Reports; X Clarifies Unauthorized Access Was Not Caused By Hacking

Bitcoin ETF's approval news spread like wildfire on Tuesday, Jan. 9, but it turned out that the announcement was false. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the agency deciding whether to approve the Bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund, said the reports are false.

As per CNBC, the supposed approval of Bitcoin ETFs was announced via the SEC's X account, formerly known as Twitter. With the note coming from the office's official social media account, those who have come across the post did not think twice and immediately believed the approval announcement.

Hacking on SEC's X Account

Less than 30 minutes after the message was posted, the US SEC told the public the information was false. It said it has never given the thumbs up to the Bitcoin ETFs yet. The misinformation resulted in a sudden surge in Bitcoin, but the numbers dropped below $46,000.

CoinTelegraph reported that Gary Gensler, SEC's chairman, reiterated they have "not approved the listing and trading of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded products." The initial post was removed, but millions have already seen it.

At any rate, the commission's spokesperson reportedly explained that the blunder was due to unauthorized access to the SEC's X account. He pointed to "an unknown party" as the culprit for the breach that lasted for just a brief moment.

"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," he said.

Breaking Update About Account Breach

In the latest update, the X platform said it had completed a preliminary probe into the compromised account of the U.S. SEC, which led to the dissemination of the false claim about Bitcoin ETF approval. It said there was unauthorized access, not due to a breach in X's system.

"Based on our investigation, the compromise was not due to any breach of X's systems, but rather due to an unidentified individual obtaining control over a phone number associated with the @SECGov account through a third party," X wrote in a post. "We can also confirm that the account did not have two-factor authentication enabled at the time the account was compromised."

Photo by: Markus Winkler/Pixabay

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