The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is scrambling to let investors know that it has not approved a spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) after the regulator’s social media account was hacked.
The SEC’s account on X, formerly Twitter, was compromised on Jan. 9 and a post was made claiming that the agency had approved the first Bitcoin ETF for the U.S. market.
“The SEC’s @SECGov X/Twitter account has been compromised. The unauthorized tweet regarding Bitcoin ETFs was not made by the SEC or its staff,” said the regulator in one of several statements it issued to clarify the matter.
SEC Chair Gary Gensler took to his personal account on X and said the Wall Street regulator “has not approved the listing and trading of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded products.”
After briefly spiking on news of the false social media post, the price of Bitcoin fell about 2% to trade at $45,800 U.S.
The SEC said it is working with law enforcement to investigate the breach of its social media account.
Despite the hack, the SEC faces a deadline of today (Jan. 10) to approve or reject the Bitcoin ETF applications of more than a dozen fund issuers, including BlackRock (BLK), Fidelity, Invesco (IVZ), and Ark Invest, among others.
Many analysts still expect the regulator to approve multiple applications for new Bitcoin ETFs later today.
The SEC has rejected previous Bitcoin ETF applications, claiming they would lack surveillance and be prone to fraud and market manipulation.
Bitcoin is currently trading at $45,400 U.S., down nearly 3% over the past 24 hours.
