- The SEC’s chairman confirms that a spot Bitcoin ETF has not been approved, despite the commission’s X account claiming otherwise
- Chairman Gensler stated that the account was compromised, resulting in such a message being Tweeted
- BTC’s price slides to trade at the $45,000 level, resulting in the crypto community calling for an investigation into the market manipulation
The United States Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) out out a Tweet on its official X account stating that it has approved Bitcoin ETFs. However, this is not the true situation as Gary Gensler confirmed that the commission’s social media account was hacked.
The @SECGov twitter account was compromised, and an unauthorized tweet was posted. The SEC has not approved the listing and trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded products.
— Gary Gensler (@GaryGensler) January 9, 2024
Notably, the fake X statement spread like wildfire in the crypto market immediately after its posting. Several influencers and developers shared positive excitement on the news published by the compromised account. The announcement reinforced the positive sentiment of getting approval for the Bitcoin product by the end of this week.
The hacked account even attached a statement under SEC Chairman Gary Gensler’s name. Unlike the usual stance of Gensler on crypto, the statement read, “Today’s approval enhances market transparency and provides investors with efficient access to digital asset investments within a regulated framework.”
The @SECGov X account was compromised, and an unauthorized post was posted. The SEC has not approved the listing and trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded products.
— U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (@SECGov) January 9, 2024
BTC’s price jumps on fake spot Bitcoin ETF approval news
The effect of the fake news was also seen on the price of BTC with the coin inching towards $48,000 immediately after the announcement. However, the price retracted after a corrective statement was put out by Chairman Gensler. This has even resulted in Bitcoin’s price sliding to $45,000 before bouncing back to the $46,000 level and sliding down again.
According to CoinMarketCap, at press time, Bitcoin was trading at $45,556 with a market cap of $891 billion. The coin’s price has registered a downfall of 2.75% in the past one hour. Meanwhile, the past seven-day chart was still in green at 0.93%.
The massive shift in the price of Bitcoin has resulted in the majority of crypto influencers calling for an investigation into its market manipulation. Cameron Winklevoss – the co-founder of Gemini – said, “It would great if the @SECGov would stop manipulating the Bitcoin market.”
