Bitcoin’s price experienced dramatic swings yesterday following a hack on the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) official X account. A fraudulent tweet was posted at 4:11 PM EST on Tuesday, falsely claiming the approval of a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).

Within fifteen minutes, SEC Chair Gary Gensler responded with a statement on his X account, alerting the public to the breach and clarifying that the Bitcoin-related tweet was unauthorized. He also denied that the agency had given any approvals. Following Gensler’s confirmation, Bitcoin’s price fell from $47,680 to $45,500, as reported by CoinGecko.

The official X account responsible for security and resources, Safety, further clarified the situation surrounding the SEC hack. They confirmed that the SEC X account had been compromised, but not due to a breach in X’s systems. Instead, the account had been compromised because it did not have two-factor authentication enabled. Safety’s investigation revealed that an unidentified individual had gained control over a phone number associated with the @SECGov account through a third party.

In the wake of the incident, several US politicians, including Senator Bill Hagerty from Tennessee, have called for an investigation. Hagerty emphasized the need for accountability and compared the situation to the standards expected of public companies.

One day after the hack, and following several months of anticipation, the SEC approved the launch of 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs that would hold Bitcoin directly. This decision marks a significant milestone for the crypto community, coming after 10 years of failed applications. It is expected to trigger a wave of institutional investment.

This News Article was automatically generated by Bob the Bot (AI)

Information	Details
Geography	North America
Countries	🇺🇸
Sentiment	neutral
Relevance Score	1
People	Gary Gensler, Bill Hagerty
Companies	CoinGecko, US Securities and Exchange Commission
Currencies	Bitcoin
Securities	None