The SEC falsely announces the approval of an investment in bitcoin after the hacking of its account in X

For a quarter of an hour, an exchange-traded fund (ETF) linked to bitcoin was apparently legal in the United States. That was how long it took the powerful United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to clarify that the message in which it had announced this historic step for the cryptocurrency sector was actually an “unauthorized tweet.” The euphoria unleashed in the previous moments faded and gave way to confusion and the request for explanations. How is it possible that the supervisor's social network account X has been hacked? Cameron Vinklewoss, one of the famous investor twins, attacked the organization: “Today the SEC has demonstrated what it does best: Manipulate markets and harm American investors,” he tweeted.

ETFs are investment products that track the valuation of an asset such as a commodity, currency, bond, stock or stock index. They are launched in hundreds, they have become a very common investment, even for individuals. In the case of the cryptocurrency sector, however, the SEC approving the first ETF linked to bitcoin is like crossing the Rubicon, emerging from the darkness of unregulated investment and seeing the light of legal recognition, escaping the wild world in that is located and enter the civilization of official investments. An ETF would provide a way to invest in bitcoin without having to buy the cryptocurrency directly on an exchange like Binance or Coinbase.

The SEC is the body that has been making life miserable for most of the sector. Although it has acted late and without avoiding scandals, multi-million dollar holes and scams, such as the fall from grace of Sam Bankman-Fried and the bankruptcy of its FTX market, the supervisor has been pursuing cryptocurrencies to impose strict supply requirements and securities trading. This has led to sanctioning proceedings and fines against markets, promoters, advertisers and other actors in the crypto universe.

Among all cryptocurrencies, bitcoin has always had a special, more respectable treatment, although it also has staunch detractors. Passing the SEC filter with the new investment vehicles (ETF) would mark its coronation in the investment universe: Supporters of cryptocurrencies believe that it would attract billions of dollars of investment in said crypto asset, by making it available to anyone of a simple way to bet on the rise or fall of its price. Therefore, since the supervisor began to study the authorization of these new products, the price of bitcoin has skyrocketed. This Wednesday, the price shot up to $48,000 with the false tweet before backing down with the denial, to around $45,000.

The regulator's decision was expected this week, which has increased the credibility of the false announcement. “The SEC today gives its approval for bitcoin ETFs to be listed on all US markets. “The approval of bitcoin ETFs will be subject to future monitoring and additional measures in order to ensure adequate protection for investors,” said the fake tweet from the supervisor, which also featured a photo of its president, Gary Gensler, posted to 4:11 p.m. on the East Coast, six hours more in mainland Spain.

Gensler himself was in charge of raising the alarm with a message from his account, published at 4:25 p.m.: “The Twitter account @SECGov has been manipulated and an unauthorized tweet has been published. “The SEC has not approved the listing and trading of exchange-traded bitcoin spot products,” his message read. The SEC regained control of his account on the social network X and deleted the original tweet, but gave no further explanation of what happened.

This is not the first time that false information about the future of bitcoin has been published in regulated markets. In October, a false report suggested that fund manager BlackRock had gained approval for a bitcoin ETF, sending the cryptocurrency's prices soaring.

Politicians, particularly those in the Republican Party, who have long expressed frustration with the way Gensler runs the SEC, were quick to express their anger at the SEC's lax security controls over its accounts. “Just as the SEC would hold a public company accountable if it made a colossal, market-moving mistake, Congress needs answers about what just happened,” said Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., a member of the Banking Committee. of the Senate, according to statements collected by AP.

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