Comment on the Cryptocurrency Controversy of the X-Account of the Securities and Exchange Commission: The Case for Blockchain ETFs

The official X account of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission was “compromised” this afternoon, resulting in the publication of an “unauthorized” post, according to SEC chair Gary Gensler. The account, @SECGov, also said the account had been compromised.

The @SECGov account published a post this afternoon regarding the regulatory status of Bitcoin ETFs, a financial product that would allow people to invest in bitcoin like standard stocks. The post, which also included an image with an apparently fake quote from Gensler, has since been deleted.

The fake post caused a small blip in the price of the currency, to nearly $47,870, before crashing from its original price around 3%.

A public company would want to be held accountable if they made such a big mistake, as long as Congress wanted to know what happened, wrote Hagerty. “This is unacceptable.”

Over the past year, cuts to X’s staff by Musk have raised fears that the company wouldn’t be able to secure a platform used by high-profile figures and government agencies around the world. The former security official sued Musk and others, claiming that the cuts to the staff would interfere with X’s ability to comply with the FTC’s order to protect users’ personal information.

A raft of US senators have demanded answers from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after a security incident led to false and market-moving information being published by the financial regulator.

There have been rumors that the SEC might be asked to investigate itself for market manipulation in order to protect US investors. Even though the US Commodities and Futures Trading Commission is involved, a former SEC attorney says it’s more likely that the commission would conduct the investigation.

The practicability of any potential investigation is still unanswered and the issue of jurisdiction is the only one that matters. “The idea of the commodities regulator investigating the securities regulator is unprecedented,” he says. “There is no manual for this.”