the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) confirmed that its X account, responsible for deciding on the approval of bitcoin ETFs, experienced a compromise, as reported to CoinDesk by Nikhilesh De and Krisztian Sandor. The SEC clarified that it had not granted approval for bitcoin ETF applications, contradicting a brief statement posted on its compromised X (formerly Twitter) account.
In response to the situation, a spokesperson for the SEC stated, “The SEC’s @SECGov X/Twitter account has been compromised. The unauthorized tweet regarding bitcoin ETFs was not made by the SEC or its staff.” The SEC acknowledged unauthorized access and activity on the account by an unknown party, assuring that the party no longer had unauthorized access. The SEC plans to collaborate with law enforcement and government partners to investigate the incident and determine appropriate actions related to the unauthorized access and any potential misconduct.
X’s Safety team disclosed that the SECgov account lacked two-factor authentication, enabling the attacker to gain control over a phone number associated with the account. SEC Chair Gary Gensler, using his own X account, reiterated that spot bitcoin exchange-traded products had not received authorization. Despite widespread expectations for the approval of spot bitcoin ETF applications, Gensler emphasized that any official approval would be communicated through the SEC’s EDGAR database, with the compromised X account not considered a valid means of conveying decisions.
The compromised @SECgov X account had initially tweeted about the approval of Bitcoin ETFs, attributing a quote to Gensler and mentioning ongoing surveillance and compliance measures. However, the tweet was deemed unauthorized, and the SEC emphasized that the official decision, if approved, would be communicated through official channels.
