US lawyers and senators have called on Congress to order an investigation into the SEC, after the agency's X account was allegedly hacked and misleading information about the Bitcoin ETF Spot, causing the price BTC fluctuates wildly within hours.
Accordingly, Senator Bill Hagerty in a post on January 9 on Congress also needs an explanation about what just happened.”
She called the incident unacceptable and asked the SEC to provide transparency about the events that led to the misleading post.
Fraudulent announcements, like the one that was made on the SEC’s social media, can manipulate markets. We need transparency on what happened.
— Senator Cynthia Lummis (@SenLummis) January 9, 2024
Meanwhile, Fox Business journalist Charles Gasparino said, he was informed by securities lawyers, the SEC would have to investigate market manipulation itself.
Congresswoman Ann Wagner, who pointed out the problem, called the incident ”clear market manipulation,” which affected millions of investors. "I plan to ask Chairman Gensler more about this incident," she added.
Chair @GaryGensler,Does this mean we can blame more of the @secgov’s horrible rulemaking and so-called regulation by enforcement on a “compromised account”? #askingforafriendSincerely, Chairman of the House Financial Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee pic.twitter.com/THqZ2PlVle
—Rep. Bill Huizenga (@RepHuizenga) January 9, 2024
Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart sarcastically said to SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, he would be furious with the staffer in charge. “Gary would probably want someone dead over this (honestly, if it were him I would),” James quipped.
Additionally, investment fund managers like Timothy Peterson of Cane Island Alternative Advisors, say the SEC hack could be an event of market manipulation – contrary to the SEC's mandate, which is to protect investors from such events.
“How can @SECGov protect hundreds of millions of investors when they cannot protect their own social media accounts.”, he emphasized.
Misguided Approval of Spot Bitcoin ETFs on SEC's X Account. Source: X
American attorney, James Murphy commented in a post aimed at Gensler, that although he did not want to criticize anyone in particular, the negligence of someone within their organization caused real serious damage for some users.
As pro-Bitcoin investor Layah Heilpern noted, the SEC's misleading post was up for 20 minutes before being removed, and attracted at least 4.4 million views during that time. “The case is clear market manipulation,” Heilpern stated.
The SEC has currently not provided details on how its X account was compromised, but has denied that internal employees participated in unauthorized tweeting.
Despite the negative and unclear news, Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas is optimistic that, he still awaits official approval sometime between 4:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. (ie 9:00 to 10:00 p.m. UTC) on January 10.
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