The Securities and Exchange Commission said Friday that it is still evaluating whether “additional remedial actions” are warranted after a false post on its official account on X, the site formerly called Twitter, that claimed it had been approved for spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds. .
In a statement Friday, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said the agency “is still assessing the impacts of this incident on the agency, investors and the market, but recognizes that those impacts include concerns about the security of the SEC’s social networks…
The Securities and Exchange Commission said Friday that it is still evaluating whether “additional remedial actions” are warranted after a false post on its official account on X, the site formerly called Twitter, that claimed it had been approved for spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds. .
In a statement on Friday, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said the agency “is still assessing the impacts of this incident on the agency, investors and the market, but recognizes that those impacts include concerns about the security of the SEC’s social media accounts.”
The incident occurred Tuesday when an anonymous person used a phone number linked to X’s SEC account to access the agency’s profile and post a false ad endorsing bitcoin exchange-traded funds, according to a preliminary investigation by X.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) finally approved Bitcoin ETFs on Wednesday.
“Based on current information, employees understand that shortly after 4:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, January 9, 2024, an unauthorized party gained access to the @SECGov X.com account by taking control of the phone number associated with the account,” Gensler said in a statement. Statement on Friday.
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“While SEC staff is still assessing the scope of the incident, there is currently no evidence that the unauthorized party gained access to other SEC systems, data, devices, or social media accounts,” he added.
Bitcoin
It fell 7% in the last 24 hours to $42,672. Business in the world’s largest cryptocurrency has surged since the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved trading of the first exchange-traded funds (ETFs) holding Bitcoin tokens themselves.
Write to Joe Woelfel at joseph.woelfel@barrons.com