A hacker or group of hackers were able to access the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) X social media account this week.
After gaining access to the account on the platform – formerly known as Twitter – the hackers published a post stating that the financial watchdog had approved a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), including a fabricated quote from SEC Chairman Gary Gensler.
If this had been the case, it would mean that Bitcoin would; be classed as an investment fund that could also be traded on stock exchanges, similar to gold bars, stocks, bonds and currencies, among other assets. This essentially means that people could invest in Bitcoin without having to buy the cryptocurrency outright.
The post has now been deleted, and the SEC explained in a follow up post that its account had been ‘compromised’, and that ‘an unauthorised post’ was subsequently posted.
“The SEC has not approved the listing and trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded products,” the regulator asserted to investors and financial stakeholders on X.
Gary Gensler would later reiterate in his own X post that the SEC ‘has not approved the listing and trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded products’ and that its account had been hacked.
Excited investors with interests in cryptocurrencies will have to continue waiting for the long-anticipated approval of Bitcoin ETFs, a move which would have spelled a major boost to the crypto asset and the market surrounding it.
