On Tuesday, the cryptocurrency market received an unexpected jolt after a message was posted on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) X (Twitter) page at around 21:00 UTC, stating that the regulator had approved the listing of Bitcoin ETFs on all registered exchanges.
However, the SEC later stated that the post was false and the result of unauthorized access to its account, and law enforcement has already been notified
After a preliminary investigation, the X Safety team determined that the false SEC Bitcoin ETF approval announcement was the result of a hacking attack known as a "SIM swap attack".
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In addition, X Safety emphasized that the regulator did not activate two-factor authentication (2FA) on its main X (Twitter) account, which allowed the attacker to access the account.
SIM swap hacking is an identity theft in which an attacker obtains the victim's phone number, allowing them to access their social media, banking, and crypto accounts.
This event has not only caused negative reactions in the cryptocurrency market but also outrage from U.S. senators. Congressmen J.D. Vance and Thom Tillis, in a letter to SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, criticized the agency for its lack of adequate security and demanded an explanation for the incident within the next four days.
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"These events raise serious concerns about the Commission's internal cybersecurity procedures and are contrary to the Commission's tripartite mission to protect investors," the letter said.
The letter was supported by a number of other senators, including Bill Hagerty and Cynthia Lummis.
"Congress needs answers about what just happened. This is unacceptable," Hagerty said in a tweet.
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The fake news helped push the price of Bitcoin (BTC) past the $47,000 mark and towards $48,000 after it was published. At the same time, after the official statement of the SEC, the cost of the first cryptocurrency in terms of capitalization plummeted to the area of $45,500.
Bitcoin is currently trading at $46,037.
Read also: FTX and Celsius move $35 million worth of WBTC and ETH to exchanges