The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is becoming a laughingstock on the Internet. The reason: its X account was hacked yesterday. And then a tweet was posted: The Bitcoin spot ETF had been approved. A drama began, as it later turned out to be X account to be hacked.

What came out: Apparently one of the largest U.S. government agencies does not use two-factor authentication.

The irony: The SEC has not yet approved the ETF application because of concerns about market manipulation. With the fake tweet and correction, it effectively manipulated the market.

The Bitcoin price rose three percent and then corrected by five percent. $90 million in positions were liquidated.

The ridicule and memes did not take long to materialize.

Turns out the SEC was behind all the market manipulation after all. pic.twitter.com/ey1SmseOAz
— _Checkɱate 🔑⚡🌋☢️🛢️ (@_Checkmatey_) January 9, 2024

Web3 investor Rahim Matab wrote on Twitter:

The @SECGov X account was compromised, and an unauthorized post was posted. The SEC has not approved the listing and trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded products.
— U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (@SECGov) January 9, 2024

Analyst Nansen responded to the SEC:

The @SECGov X account was compromised, and an unauthorized post was posted. The SEC has not approved the listing and trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded products.
— U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (@SECGov) January 9, 2024

Especially ludicrous was the fact that the SEC - one of the most important U.S. government agencies - apparently does not use two-factor authentication.

U.S. senators now demand that the SEC investigate the incident.

The Bitcoin Spot ETF has been anticipated for months. According to some analysts, 95% of it would be launched today, Jan. 10, 2024. It is predicted to do so by the evening.

Read here what happens when even one percent of asset managers invest in Bitcoin.

An ETF for Ethereum has also been requested and there is apparently talk of an ETF for Ripple.