SEC says Twitter account was compromised, it's not approved a bitcoin ETF

Gary Gensler said the SEC's X account was compromised and that bitcoin ETFs have not in fact been approved.

• Gary Gensler said the SEC's X social media account was compromised on Tuesday.
• The SEC X account had announced that the regulator approved bitcoin ETFs for trading.
• The price of bitcoin initially spiked to as high as $47,897 following the SEC's X post and then fell to as low as $44,903.

Gary Gensler said that the Securities and Exchange Commission's X social media account was compromised on Tuesday and that bitcoin ETFs have not been approved for trading.

Shortly after the market close on Tuesday, the SEC's X account posted a now-deleted announcement that it had approved bitcoin ETFs to begin trading, something that has been widely anticipated by the crypto market. That post was made by an imposter and was deleted soon after.

About 15 minutes after the SEC's imposter post, SEC chair Gary Gensler said from his X account that no bitcoin ETFs had been approved. 

"The @SECGov twitter account was compromised, and an unauthorized tweet was posted. The SEC has not approved the listing and trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded products," Gensler posted to X.

The price of bitcoin initially spiked to as high as $47,897 following the SEC's X post and then fell to as low as $44,903 before jumping back above the $45,000 level.

Anticipation for a bitcoin ETF has been mounting for the past few weeks as various applicants offer more details about the fees they will be charging if their ETFs are approved. There are 13 ETF applications outstanding from issuers including BlackRock, VanEck, ARK 21Shares, and Fidelity, among others.

For months, investors have been expecting the SEC to approve a slew of bitcoin ETFs to begin trading on US exchanges. The regulator has a January 10 deadline to respond to an appeal from ARK 21Shares on its bitcoin ETF application.