The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating a fake post on its official Twitter account that claimed the agency had approved bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The post sent the price of bitcoin soaring briefly before the SEC quickly clarified that it had not, in fact, approved any such ETFs.
The fake post, which was published on the SEC’s @SECGov account on Tuesday, read: “The SEC has approved the first-ever bitcoin ETFs. This is a major step forward for the cryptocurrency industry.” The post was quickly retweeted and shared thousands of times, causing the price of bitcoin to jump by as much as 10% in a matter of minutes.
However, the SEC was quick to debunk the claim. Within minutes of the fake post being published, the SEC tweeted from its official account: “The SEC has not approved any bitcoin ETFs. The previous tweet was fraudulent. We are investigating the matter.”
The fake post has raised concerns about the security of the SEC’s social media accounts. Some experts have called for the SEC to implement stricter security measures to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.
“This is a serious security breach,” said Jake Moore, a cybersecurity expert at ESET. “The SEC needs to take steps to improve the security of its social media accounts to prevent this from happening again.”
The SEC has not yet commented on how the fake post was able to be published on its official Twitter account. However, the agency is likely to launch a full investigation into the matter.
The incident is also likely to raise concerns about the regulation of cryptocurrencies. The SEC has been hesitant to approve bitcoin ETFs, citing concerns about the volatility of the cryptocurrency market. However, the recent surge in the price of bitcoin has renewed calls for the SEC to reconsider its stance on ETFs.
“The SEC needs to take a more proactive approach to the regulation of cryptocurrencies,” said John Smith, a professor of finance at the University of California, Berkeley. “The recent incident shows that the current regulatory framework is not adequate.”
It is still too early to say what the long-term impact of the fake post will be. However, it is clear that the incident has raised concerns about the security of the SEC’s social media accounts and the regulation of cryptocurrencies.