Gensler Addresses US Lawmakers on SEC’s False Bitcoin ETF Tweet

The Chair of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, has responded to four lawmakers in the House of Representatives regarding an “unauthorized” tweet sent from the official SEC X account on January 9. In a letter dated February 6, Gensler confirmed that a hacker had gained access to the SEC’s X account through a “SIM swap” attack, falsely claiming that the commission had approved spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for listing and trading on US exchanges.

According to Gensler, the hacker posted two tweets and liked two others before the commission was able to remove the unauthorized activity. He stated that the SEC staff believed the account’s access had been terminated by 5:30 pm based on available information. The incident is currently under investigation by law enforcement agencies, including the Office of Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The SEC is also coordinating with the Justice Department.

Gensler emphasized that the SEC takes its cybersecurity obligations seriously and offered to answer further questions from the lawmakers. The fake tweet on January 9 caused a brief upheaval in the cryptocurrency market, as many were anticipating the SEC’s decision on approving spot BTC ETFs. The following day, the SEC officially approved 11 spot Bitcoin exchange-traded products for listing and trading on US exchanges.

The SEC’s own safety team reported on January 9 that two-factor authentication had not been enabled on the SEC X account, leading to the security breach. The commission confirmed this information in a statement released on January 22. After approving spot BTC ETFs, the expectation is that the SEC will make a decision on spot Ether (ETH) exchange-traded products. Asset manager VanEck is likely to be one of the companies awaiting a decision, with a deadline of May 2024 set by the SEC.