The US Securities Exchange and Commission was subject to a cyber attack on Monday, 23 January, after an unauthorised social media post stated that the SEC had granted money managers the approval to launch spot bitcoin ETFs. At the time of the leaked X (formerly Twitter) post, this was false; however, the SEC issued the final approval for bitcoin’s ETFs approximately 24 hours later.
SEC “SIM swap” attack knocks $63bn off bitcoin’s market value
The SEC determined that an unauthorised party had transferred a SEC mobile phone number linked to the X account in question onto another device. This act, although not an uncommon cyber theft act, left the market questioning the SEC’s security.
After the post, bitcoin’s market price decreased from approximately $48,000 to $45,5000, a fall of $63bn in under five minutes. As of Monday’s market close, the price stands at $40,000.
SEC Chair Gary Gensler, an avid foe of the cryptocurrency industry, took to his personal X account to publicly dismiss the legitimacy of the leaked post.
Don’t miss out the latest news, subscribe to LeapRate’s newsletter
Crypto fan and brief director of communications for the White House, Anthony Scaramucci, also took to X to combat Gensler’s explanation. Scaramucci stated:
I think Gensler is lying. I bet an employee screwed up and jumped the gun and he is blaming it on X.
A SEC spokesperson stated:
Access to the phone number occurred via the telecom carrier, not via SEC systems. SEC staff have not identified any evidence that the unauthorised party gained access to SEC systems, data, devices, or other social media accounts.
Currently, the FBI, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Justice Department are working with the SEC to decipher the root cause of the cyber hack.
