SEC Chair Gary Gensler Makes New Statement on Fake Bitcoin Spot ETF Post and SEC Hack

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) takes its cybersecurity obligations seriously, according to Chairman Gary Gensler. The SEC is actively investigating the scope of a false social media post that was circulated prior to the approval of spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs, Gensler said in a new letter to House Republicans.

The fake post, spread through the agency’s X account in early January, falsely stated that the SEC had approved the listing of spot BTC ETFs. This situation caused concern among hundreds of thousands of followers of the institution because the approval had not yet been given.

Gensler quickly responded to the false post from his personal account, stating that the SEC’s X account had been compromised. The SEC has since enabled multi-factor authentication on all social media accounts that offer it, according to a Jan. 22 update.

Following the incident, four Republican House of Representatives members, including Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry, Michigan Representative Bill Huizenga, Arkansas Representative French Hill and Missouri Representative Ann Wagner, requested a briefing from the SEC.

Gensler confirmed in his letter that the SEC’s Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs held a briefing on January 17 to address the incident and the questions raised in the Republicans’ letter. Gensler also noted that SEC staff stands ready to answer any additional questions.

The SEC also considered SIM swapping, a technique used to transfer a person’s phone number to another device without permission, in the context of the case. According to the latest information, law enforcement is currently investigating how the attacker changed the SIM of the account and how he knew which phone number was associated with the account.

“At this time, SEC staff has not identified any evidence that the unauthorized party gained access to SEC systems, data, devices or other social media accounts,” Gensler said in the letter.

*This is not investment advice.