The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) made a significant mistake on the morning of January 10th, Taiwan time, claiming that hackers had unauthorized access to the SEC’s Twitter account and posted a false statement that all Bitcoin spot ETFs had been approved. This caused a brief surge in Bitcoin price to $48,000, followed by a rapid decline. The SEC stated that it will cooperate with law enforcement agencies to investigate this matter.
SEC Hacked! SEC Chairman Gary Gensler Manipulates Market on the Eve of Bitcoin Spot ETF Approval
Table of Contents:
Toggle
Gary Gensler’s Tweet Engraved on the Blockchain
U.S. Senator: Unacceptable Error, Congress Needs an Explanation
SEC: Will Cooperate with Law Enforcement Agencies to Investigate This Matter
Gary Gensler’s Tweet Engraved on the Blockchain
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler explained that the tweets from the hacked account have been engraved and stored on the Bitcoin network by digital artist Billy Restey. Restey stated:
Advertisement – Continue scrolling for more content
To ensure that we do not forget, this tweet has been immortalized on Bitcoin.
The engraving created by Restey is stored in block 53,995,422, written in block 825,059.
U.S. Senator: Unacceptable Error, Congress Needs an Explanation
A tweet from Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee received widespread attention. He stated:
Just as the SEC demands that a publicly traded company takes responsibility for a market-impacting error, Congress also needs an answer to what just happened. This is unacceptable.
SEC: Will Cooperate with Law Enforcement Agencies to Investigate This Matter
The SEC seems to be responding actively to this major public relations crisis and has provided a statement to multiple blockchain media outlets. The SEC stated:
Shortly after 4 pm Eastern Time (around 5 am in Taiwan), an unauthorized party gained access to the SEC’s Twitter account for a short period of time. The unauthorized access has been terminated. The SEC will cooperate with law enforcement agencies to investigate this matter and determine the subsequent actions regarding the unauthorized access and any related improper conduct.
The SEC told Coindesk that any Committee 19b-4 order will be published on the SEC’s website and announced in the Federal Register.
Many members of the crypto community speculated that the Bitcoin spot ETF had been approved by the SEC and that the tweet was accidentally posted early by an SEC intern. However, an SEC spokesperson emphasized to Decrypt, an external media outlet, that the tweet was not posted by the SEC or its staff.
Gary Gensler
SEC
Bitcoin spot ETF
Further reading:
Former SEC Chairman Jay Clayton Interviewed: Approval of Bitcoin Spot ETF is Inevitable
Is the Approval of a Bitcoin ETF Really Important? Venture Partner Adam Cochran: Short-Term Impact is Minimal