Gary Gensler reports that the SEC X account is ‘broken’ – no Bitcoin ETF verification anywhere yet.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has confirmed that it has not yet approved the listing and trading of bitcoin exchange-traded products, and a previous post suggesting this is false.

On January 9, several news outlets published an inaccurate story after the SEC's official X (formerly Twitter) account tweeted that the regulator had approved Bitcoin (BTC) exchange funds for the first time.

15 minutes later, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said the commission “did not approve the listing and trading of bitcoin exchange-traded products.” Various news outlets – including Cointelegraph, Blockworks and Reuters – initially reported on the SEC story. Gensler's statement.

The @SECGov Twitter account was hacked, and an unauthorized tweet was posted. The SEC has not approved the listing and marketing of spot bitcoin trading products.

— Gary Gensler (@GaryGensler) January 9, 2024

The first “unauthorized post” claimed the commission had authorized Bitcoin ETFs to list on US exchanges, featuring a photo and a fake quote from the SEC chairman.

The SEC pulled the original tweet — even though it had racked up millions of views by that point.

The @SECGov X account was hacked, and an unauthorized post was posted. The SEC has not approved the listing and marketing of spot bitcoin trading products.

— US Securities and Exchange Commission (@SECGov) January 9, 2024

In a statement to Cointelegraph, the SEC said the unauthorized tweet “was not made by the SEC or its staff.”

“The SEC's @SECGov X/Twitter account has been compromised. The unauthorized tweet regarding Bitcoin ETFs was not made by the SEC or its staff.”

Many asset managers expected the commission to release a decision on a spot Bitcoin ETF within the next couple of days after completing some of the final submissions of their applications.

Even if the social media post is false, the SEC may still approve the Spot Bitcoin ETF. Neither Gensler nor the SEC's Twitter account indicated whether the commission plans to approve or ban the investment vehicle. A decision on the spot BTC ETF from ARK Invest and 21Shares is expected by January 10, which some experts believe could trigger simultaneous approvals for other asset managers.

Related: Spot Bitcoin ETF Income? Investors can see results from the SEC this week.

Before Gensler's announcement that the SEC X account was compromised, crypto users and the market reacted accordingly. BTC price rose more than 2.5% from $46,729 to $47,901 before falling roughly 7% to $44,701. According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro, at the time of publication, the price of BTC was below $46,000.

Some people on social media said the information in the SEC's Twitter feed was accurate, but it was released prematurely. The commission's X account showed two “likes” to a fake tweet by random users — an unusual move from the SEC.

Gary wants someone's head to roll for that. (Honestly, I wish I were him too). We better hope it doesn't get picked on by these potential ETF issuers.

— James Seyff (@JSeyff) January 9, 2024

Magazine: Should crypto projects negotiate with hackers? in case

Update (Jan. 9 at 10:38 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include a statement from the SEC.