A highly anticipated decision by the US Securities and Exchange Commission on whether to approve a spot-Bitcoin exchange-traded fund quickly morphed into a major cybersecurity incident on Tuesday.
The SEC’s X account was compromised and a fake post claiming that the agency had green lit plans for the products fueled a brief surge in the price of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency. It also has sparked an investigation by US authorities into how a social media account at Wall Street’s main regulator was compromised. …
The breach gave fodder to crypto faithful who have long viewed the commission’s chair, Gary Gensler, as an enemy due to his zeal to rein in the industry. The irony of a cybersecurity incident befalling a regulator that’s repeatedly warned of crypto’s online vulnerabilities was not lost on critics who have spent years waiting for the SEC to approve a Bitcoin ETF. Traders have been speculating for weeks that the agency could approve several of the products as soon as Wednesday.
