The Securities and Exchange Commission‘s X, formerly Twitter, account was hacked and issued a fake announcement approving the use of bitcoin on registered national securities exchanges, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler announced.
On Tuesday afternoon, the SEC’s X account announced that bitcoin had been approved for listing and regulation by the agency.
“Today the SEC grants approval for #Bitcoin ETFs for listing on all registered national securities exchanges,” the post read. “The approved Bitcoin ETFs will be subject to ongoing surveillance and compliance measures to ensure continued investor protection.”
The post included a purported quote from Gensler praising the decision as furthering transparency and efficiency.
Fifteen minutes after the post, Gensler announced that the SEC X account had been compromised and said the announcement was fake.
“The @SECGov twitter account was compromised, and an unauthorized tweet was posted,” he wrote. “The SEC has not approved the listing and trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded products.”
The apparent hack comes as some crypto analysts are expecting an SEC green light. The value of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has been rising in anticipation.
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Bloomberg Intelligence analysts said in a note they predicted the SEC would approve all 12 applications.
The SEC is expected to announce its actual decision on approving Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies sometime this week.