A single fake Twitter post has caused chaos in the crypto space and the broader financial markets, and both the Securities and Exchange Commission and Twitter itself are looking into what happened.
“The SEC has determined that there was short-term access and activity by an unknown party on the @SECGov x.com account,” the commission told Decrypt late Tuesday. “That unauthorized access has been terminated.”
“The SEC will work with law enforcement and our government partners to investigate the matter and determine appropriate next steps related to both the unauthorized access and any related violations,” the statement continued.
Describing the SEC's Twitter account as “corrupt,” Chairman Gary Gensler rushed to set the record straight, saying, “The SEC has not approved the listing and trading of spot bitcoin trading products.” The crypto and financial communities have been eagerly awaiting such a move, even considering a decision deadline as late as Wednesday.
The fake news prompted a sudden plunge in Bitcoin prices, and the fake tweet was deleted, an incident that reverberated through the rest of the day. Some analysts have asked whether the SEC, which has widely disparaged cryptocurrencies as a highly manipulated market — should investigate itself.
Meanwhile, according to crypto Twitter influencer Walter Bloomberg, Twitter is on the case.
Despite being a prolific poster on his own platform, Twitter owner Elon Musk had nothing to say about the controversy, instead focusing on immigration, electoral integrity and a “special appearance on X” with hosts Don Lemon, Jim Rome and Tulsi Gabbard.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
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