SEC Statement on X Account Hacking and Subsequent Announcement of Fake Bitcoin ETF Approval

Based on current information, staff understands that shortly after 4:00 PM ET on Tuesday, January 9, 2024, an unauthorized party gained access to the @SECGov X.com account by taking control of the phone number associated with the account. The unauthorized party made one post purporting to announce the Commission’s approval of spot Bitcoin listing trading funds at 4:11 PM ET, followed by a second post about two minutes later titled “$BTC”. I uploaded it. The unauthorized party subsequently deleted the second post, but not the first. An unauthorized party using the @SECGov account also liked two posts from a non-SEC account. Although SEC staff are still assessing the scope of the incident, there is currently no evidence that any SEC systems, data, devices, or other social media accounts were accessed by unauthorized parties.