SEC’s X Account Apparently “Leaked” Falsely Claimed Bitcoin ETF Approval

The official X account belonging to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was briefly “compromised” after an apparently rogue post on X temporarily pushed up the price of Bitcoin, the regulator said.

On Tuesday, the SEC’s official X account tweeted that the Bitcoin ETF has been approved “for listing on all registered national securities exchanges.” The tweet included an official-looking image with a quote from SEC Chairman Gary Gensler. However, Gensler himself quickly clarified from his X account that @SECGov’s posts were the result of a “compromised” account.

“The @SECGov Twitter account has been compromised and unauthorized tweets have been posted,” Gensler wrote. “The SEC has not yet approved the listing and trading of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded products.”

Screenshot from X

The fact that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is considering whether to approve a spot Bitcoin ETF (an investment fund that holds the cryptocurrency) is causing confusion. The regulator is expected to make a decision on Wednesday, a process closely watched by cryptocurrency investors.

Of course, a now-deleted tweet from the SEC’s official (gray check verification) account on X triggered a brief spike in Bitcoin prices, followed by a sharp decline. According to CoinDesk’s analysis, the post and Gensler’s subsequent clarification “eliminate more than $50 million in leveraged derivatives trading positions within an hour.”

It was initially unclear how the SEC’s X account was “leaked.” An SEC spokesperson told Engadget in a statement that they are investigating the matter. “The SEC has determined that there was unauthorized access and activity on the @SECGov x.com account by unknown persons over a short period of time shortly after 4 p.m. ET,” the spokesperson said. Authorized access has been terminated. The SEC will work with law enforcement and our government partners to investigate this matter and determine appropriate next steps related to the unauthorized access and any related misconduct.”

X did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but the company shared the results of a “preliminary investigation” late Tuesday.

“We can confirm that the @SECGov account has been compromised and we have completed our initial investigation,” X wrote in a post on his security account. “Based on our investigation, this breach was not due to a compromise of X’s system; An unidentified individual gained control of a phone number associated with the @SECGov account through a third party. We can also confirm that the account did not have two-factor authentication enabled at the time of the breach.”

X’s comments also raise some new questions about the acquisition.as Burundi pointed out that government-run social media accounts should use multi-factor authentication as an additional layer of security. It would be deeply embarrassing for the regulator currently investigating X’s security practices if its own security arrangements were lax.

But while X said its systems were not compromised, the company could still face scrutiny over whether it did enough to protect high-profile accounts. This is also not the first time that a prominent government account has been hijacked on the platform. In 2020, hackers took over the accounts of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Musk, Bill Gates and others in a coordinated crypto scam. A Florida teen and two others were later charged, and the company, then known as Twitter, said the hacks were the result of a social engineering scheme.

Updated January 9, 2023 at 6:50 pm ET: This article has been updated with a statement from an SEC spokesperson regarding its investigation.

Updated January 9, 2023 at 11:18 pm ET: This report has been updated to include X’s comments on the SEC account.

This article was originally published on Engadget: https://www.engadget.com/the-secs-x-account-was-apparently-compromished-to-falsely-claim-bitcoin-etfs-were-approved-230034839.html?src =rss

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