The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has joined an investigation into a security breach involving the SEC’s X account, Reuters said on January 10.
An SEC spokesperson told Reuters:
“The [U.S. Security and Exchange Commission] continues to investigate the matter and coordinates with appropriate law enforcement authorities, including the SEC Office of Inspector General and the FBI.”
Crucially, this statement does not indicate that the FBI is investigating the SEC – only that the FBI is cooperating with the SEC on the investigation.
On January 9, an unknown party accessed the SEC’s X-Profile and posted a fake announcement in which the securities agency appeared to announce the approval of multiple spot Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs). SEC Chairman Gary Gensler and later the SEC itself denied the announcement. The SEC removed the bogus post from its X profile shortly after these corrections were posted.
Later, X Responded to the breach and said an unknown individual gained access to the SEC’s account by gaining control of an associated phone number. Other sources have described the breach method as a SIM swap consistent with X’s description.
SEC says the notice was not prepared in advance
An SEC spokesperson additionally told Reuters on Wednesday that the false announcement was not “prepared or made” by the agency. This comment refutes speculation that the agency legitimately created the notice ahead of expected ETF approvals and simply published the announcement early.
Despite the breach and redaction, the SEC ultimately approved several spot Bitcoin ETFs in a public statement on January 10.
Additionally, a separate SEC filing indicates that spot Bitcoin ETFs have received approval from eleven applicants. The agency had to specifically decide on Ark Invest’s application today, January 10, but at the same time approved similar proposals.
The post that the FBI is joining the investigation into SEC X account compromise first appeared on CryptoSlate.