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

Image: Nick Barclay / The Verge

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s official social media account on X (formerly Twitter) posted a notice on Tuesday evening falsely 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. A spokesperson for the SEC also confirmed to CNBC that an “unknown party” had accessed its account.

Late Tuesday night, an unsigned post sent from the @Safety account said, “Based on our investigation, the compromise was not due to any breach of X’s systems. but rather due to an...

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