The Securities and Exchange Commission said there is no evidence that hackers were able to access the agency’s internal systems, data or other accounts when they hacked into its X social media account earlier this week.
The hacker gained access to the SEC’s X account through the phone number associated with the account, SEC Chair Gary Gensler said Friday. The unknown individual used their access to announce that the commission had approved several Bitcoin exchange-traded funds — briefly raising the cryptocurrency’s value — through two tweets posted between 4:10 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. ET.
The ETFs allow investors to trade bitcoin in their brokerage accounts just as easily as buying and selling stocks, bonds and mutual funds.
Just 15 minutes after the original false post was made, Gensler announced that the SEC’s account had been compromised. The hacker’s access was terminated by 5:30 p.m. ET, Gensler said Friday.
The hack has sparked a series of investigations from federal oversight entities and law enforcement. The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have launched inquiries, as have the SEC’s Office of Inspector General and the Infrastructure Security Agency.
“I’m concerned that unauthorized access to SEC accounts could undermine our markets and the agency’s mission,” Senate Banking Chair Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, told Politico on Tuesday. Several other members of Congress, including Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyoming, have asked the SEC to review its cybersecurity practices.
The SEC did eventually — albeit reluctantly — approve several ETFs for Bitcoin on Wednesday. Around $4.6 billion worth of shares were traded on Bitcoin ETFs listed in the U.S. in their first day of trading, Reuters reported.
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