SEC says the FBI is now involved in investigating false post about spot bitcoin ETFs

Quick Take

  • The SEC spokesperson said the agency will provide updates as appropriate and said any agency action on exchange rule filings will be posted on the agency’s website.

The FBI is working with the Securities and Exchange Commission to figure out what went wrong when a false post about approval of spot bitcoin ETFs went out on the agency's X account on Tuesday, an SEC spokesperson said. 

"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," the spokesperson said in an email. 

At around 4 p.m. ET yesterday, a phony post went out to the SEC's hundreds of thousands of followers that said the agency had granted approval for the listing of spot bitcoin ETFs on all registered securities exchanges, which was not the case. Chair Gary Gensler quickly posted from his personal account about the compromise and said no such approval had occurred. 

The post came as the industry is waiting for the agency to decide whether to greenlight a spot bitcoin ETF, with many analysts expecting approval later today. 

The SEC spokesperson said the agency will provide updates as appropriate and said any agency action on exchange rule filings will be posted on the agency's website and then in the Federal Register. 

X confirmed in a post that the SEC's X account was compromised, as someone obtained control over a phone number associated with the account. The platform's security team noted that the SEC did not set up two-factor authentication for its account when it was compromised. 

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Lawmakers react

"I think we just witnessed the latest in Washington's technological vulnerabilities yesterday and a real low point for the SEC," Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., said during a House Financial Services Committee digital asset panel hearing Wednesday afternoon.

Hill said he and House Financial Services Committee Chair Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., along with others, will send a letter to Gensler on Wednesday to "start the process of getting to the bottom of how it happened that the SEC Twitter account was hacked and investors were misled yesterday on the subject of an ETF being approved for digital assets in bitcoin." 

Other lawmakers have also asked for explanations, including Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo. 

"Fraudulent announcements, like the one that was made on the SEC’s social media, can manipulate markets," Lummis said in a post on X on Tuesday. "We need transparency on what happened."


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About Author

Sarah is a reporter at The Block covering policy, regulation and legal happenings. Before, Sarah was a reporter with CQ Legal writing about securities regulation, which is where she first started reporting on crypto. Sarah has also written for The Bond Buyer and American Banker, among other finance-related publications. She graduated from the University of Missouri and earned a degree in print and digital journalism. Sarah is based in Washington D.C., and is an avid coffee lover. You can follow her on Twitter @ForTheWynn.

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