United States Senators J.D. Vance and Thom Tillis have requested a report from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) concerning the breach of its X account on January 9th. The breach occurred when the SEC’s official account on X tweeted about approving a spot Bitcoin ETF, which caused confusion in the markets. Senators Vance and Tillis expressed serious concerns about the incident and the commission’s internal cybersecurity procedures. They called the breach “antithetical” to the SEC’s mission and requested a report from the commission by January 23rd. The senators also reminded the SEC of its requirement to disclose impacts of a cybersecurity breach within four days.
The breach occurred when the SEC’s X account tweeted false information about approving spot Bitcoin ETFs. SEC Chair Gary Gensler later confirmed that the tweet was unauthorized. An internal investigation found that the compromise of the account was due to control over a phone number associated with the account. Critics, including politicians and lawyers, are demanding a full investigation into the SEC and transparency regarding the incident. They consider it a case of market manipulation that impacted millions of investors.
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