Two U.S. senators have asked Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler for an explanation for a false tweet from the SEC's Twitter account Tuesday, falsely claiming that it was too much space. Bitcoin ETFs It was accepted.
Senators JD Vance (R-OH) and Thom Tillis (RN.C.) wrote to Gensler to express concern and demand transparency regarding the SEC's social media communications. Controlling cyber security procedures. The pair asked the SEC to clarify “its plans to investigate the error.”
While the crypto world is waiting with bated breath to see if the SEC will approve one or more Bitcoin ETFs on Tuesday, the regulator's Twitter account appeared to confirm that several ETFs have been given the green light. Minutes later, SEC Chairman Gensler took to Twitter to say that the regulator's account had been “compromised” and that an “unauthorized tweet was posted.” “The SEC has not approved the listing and marketing of spot bitcoin trading products,” he explained.
Vance and Tillis said the false SEC announcement and subsequent retreat “caused significant volatility in the price of Bitcoin,” with investors “believably confused” by the regulator's “long-awaited and consequential decision.” of The price of Bitcoin It fell from a two-year high of $47,680 to $45,500 when the fake announcement spread.
The senators asked the SEC to explain how the false announcement was made, whether it was made by an SEC employee or an “outside party,” and how the regulator plans to make up for the potential financial losses to investors. False advertisement.”
Some of those questions appear to have been answered by the SEC and Twitter's own preliminary investigations. In a postmortem on Twitter, he said the incident was “not caused by any X system breach, but by an anonymous individual obtaining a third party access to the phone number associated with the @SECGov account.”
Twitter's security team also highlighted the lack of two-factor authentication on the SEC's account at the time of the hack — which contradicts Chair Gensler's suggestion of identity theft and fraud.
The SEC itself tweeted following the incident that the account was “corrupted,” and reiterated Gensler's statement that the regulator had not authorized the listing and trading of Bitcoin ETFs anywhere. In a statement to Decrypt, he noted that the person/s responsible for the unauthorized access have been terminated.
“The SEC will work with law enforcement and our government partners to investigate the matter and determine appropriate next steps regarding the unauthorized access and any related violations,” the regulator's statement continued.
In their letter, Vance and Tillis requested that if the tweet was found to be the result of a cyber security attack, the SEC would submit a report of the breach to Congress within four business days.
The SEC's social media blunder comes at a time of excitement among the crypto fraternity, with a possible window for the simultaneous approval of multiple positions Bitcoin ETFs closing on Wednesday.
In the year Asset manager BlackRock's entry into competition in June 2023 and a court victory against ETF hopeful Grayscale at the SEC later that year led to the regulator's rejection of all Bitcoin ETF applications. The approval is likely soon. This week, Bloomberg Intelligence analysts raised the probability of a Bitcoin ETF being approved in January to 95 percent.
Stay on top of crypto news, get daily updates in your inbox.
