SEC X Account Hacked, Says Bitcoin ETF Approved ($202M Liquidated)

On Wednesday (10/1/24), the SEC announced that posts from account X that said they approved a spot Bitcoin ETF were fake, saying that their account X had been hacked. This information also makes crypto prices react.

SEC's X Account Hacked

The SEC's official account on platform X was claimed to have been hacked, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said in a post from his official account on X.

The @SECGov twitter account was compromised, and an unauthorized tweet was posted. The SEC has not approved the listing and trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded products.
— Gary Gensler (@GaryGensler) January 9, 2024

"Twitter accounts @SECGov hacked, and unauthorized tweets posted," Gensler wrote.
It added that the SEC has yet to grant approval for all spot Bitcoin ETF applications.
Prior to the hack, the SEC's X account had posted stating that all spot Bitcoin ETF applications were approved, but the post had since been removed.
Image: Screenshot of X SEC account post. Source: User X
It was not immediately clear how the SEC's social media accounts were hacked. The SEC appears to have regained control of his account soon after Gensler's remarks about the hack.

Crypto Prices Experience High Volatility

Some people in the crypto community argue that this incident disrupted the crypto market.
"Either @secgov hacked, or @garygensler hacked, or the SEC just messed up its own announcement. All three possibilities are the same — the SEC is responsible for this," Mike Belshe, CEO of crypto custodial firm Bitgo, said in a post on X.

Image: BTC price graph

The crypto market experienced high volatility on Wednesday (10/1/24) this morning due to the news of a spot Bitcoin ETF approved by the SEC. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler later denied this and claimed that the SEC account was hacked.
As a result of this incident, price movements in the crypto market experienced volatility on both sides, namely up and down, resulting in many futures positions being liquidated.

$202M Liquidated Futures Position Affected by Bitcoin ETF News

On Wednesday (10/1/24) this morning, the SEC's X account announced that all spot Bitcoin ETFs were approved, as the majority of the crypto community expected. But this excitement did not last long because SEC Chairman Gary Gensler stated that the news was fake and that the SEC's X account had been hacked. As a result of this incident, price movements in the crypto market experienced volatility, especially in the price of Bitcoin which is the object of the ETF itself. After the ETF news was approved, the price of BTC increased +2.8% from US$46,675 to US$47,975.Just 15 minutes later, Gensler stated that the news was false and the price of BTC dropped -6.2% from $47,975 to $45,000.
These price movements cause volatility on both sides, leading to significant losses in traders who place leveraged futures positions. Based on Coinglass data, there are US $ 214.73 million or around $202M liquidated futures positions in the last 24 hours. The liquidation was dominated by LONG positions with USD 131.99 million or 61.47% of the total liquidation. Meanwhile, SHORT positions were liquidated amounting to USD 82.74 million or 38.53% of the total liquidation.
Although LONG positions dominate, they do not look too dominant (below 90%), which indicates that traders are liquidated on both sides due to the SEC fake news incident.

Breaking

The SEC account posted that the BTC ETF was approved.

However, G. Gensler has posted that the account was hacked and the ETF(s) are not approved.

Be careful. This is why you don't use leverage. pic.twitter.com/ClnPGQlDQA
— Jihoz.ron 🦌 (@Jihoz_Axie) January 9, 2024

This volatile price movement has also gained attention from some in the crypto community. The founder of the popular game Axie Infinity, Jeff Zirlin (@Jihoz_Axie), mentioned that "[...] Be careful, this is why you don't use leverage", in response to the incident of fake news from the SEC.