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SEC Fake Tweets Cause Market Turmoil, Gary Gensler's Tweet Gets Chainlink, Senator: Congress Needs an Explanation

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SEC Fake Tweets Cause Market Turmoil, Gary Gensler

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) made a major mistake in the early morning of January 10th, Taiwan time. It claimed that hackers had unauthorized access to its Twitter account and falsely announced that all Bitcoin spot ETFs had been approved, causing a short-lived surge in Bitcoin to $48,000 followed by a rapid decline. The SEC stated that it would collaborate with law enforcement agencies to investigate the incident.

SEC Hacked with Fake News! On the eve of approving Bitcoin spot ETFs, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler performed market manipulation

Gary Gensler Tweets Enshrined on the Blockchain

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler's tweets explaining the hack of his Twitter account have been enshrined and put on the Bitcoin network by digital artist Billy Restey. Billy Restey stated:

To ensure we don't forget, this tweet has been immortalized on the Bitcoin blockchain.

Restey's engraving is numbered 53,995,422 and has been written into block 825,059.

U.S. Senator: Unacceptable Error, Congress Needs an Explanation

Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty's tweet has garnered significant attention, stating:

Just as the SEC demands accountability from a public company for making market-shaking mistakes, Congress also needs an answer for what just happened, this is unacceptable.

SEC: Will Collaborate with Law Enforcement to Investigate the Incident

SEC seems to be taking a proactive approach in responding to this significant PR crisis, engaging with multiple blockchain media outlets.

SEC responded to the hack by telling Blockworks:

Shortly after 4 pm Eastern Time, around early morning Taiwan time, an unauthorized party accessed the SEC's Twitter account for a brief period, the unauthorized access has since been terminated. The SEC will collaborate with law enforcement to investigate the incident and determine the subsequent actions regarding the unauthorized access and any related misconduct.

SEC informed Coindesk that any 19b-4 orders will be published on the SEC website and in the Federal Register.

Many in the crypto community speculated that the Bitcoin spot ETF had been approved by the SEC, and it was an "intern" at the SEC who accidentally tweeted prematurely. However, an SEC spokesperson emphasized to media outlet Decrypt that the tweet was not issued by the SEC or its staff.