The SEC’s X account was hijacked to post a fake approval of Bitcoin ETFs

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s official social media account on X (formerly Twitter) posted a notice on Tuesday evening claiming it had approved listings for Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, which has since been deleted. Moments later, SEC Chair Gary Gensler said in a post on his own account that the agency’s account was “compromised, and an unauthorized tweet was posted.”

The SEC followed up with a post reiterating Gensler’s statement about the hack, and a spokesperson from the agency confirmed that statement to CNBC.

The post from the SEC’s account said, “Today the SEC grants approval for #Bitcoin ETFs for listing on all registered national securities. The approved Bitcoin ETFs will be subject to ongoing surveillance and compliance measures to ensure continued investor protection.” It included an image of Gensler next to the quote, but it was clearly missing any link to the SEC’s website that would normally accompany this kind of news.

Whoever compromised the SEC’s account also began liking posts from crypto-focused accounts that expressed excitement about the SEC’s false approval of Bitcoin ETFs.

Exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, are bundles of assets that work sort of like mutual funds, with shares of the ETFs trading on exchanges as stocks do. A Bitcoin ETF would make it easier for investors to speculate on the price of Bitcoin without having to hold Bitcoin directly. That also lets them avoid setting up their own cryptocurrency wallets and so on. The SEC has previously rejected all attempts at a Bitcoin ETF.