X Confirms SEC Account Hacked Through Compromised Phone Number, No 2FA 

On Jan. 9, the agency’s X account was compromised, and an announcement was made that spot Bitcoin ETFs have been approved. 

On Jan. 10, X Support confirmed that the account was hacked, stating: 

“We can confirm that the account @SECGov was compromised and we have completed a preliminary investigation.”

It added that there was no breach of X systems but an “unidentified individual obtaining control over a phone number associated with the SEC account through a third party.”

We can confirm that the account @SECGov was compromised and we have completed a preliminary investigation. Based on our investigation, the compromise was not due to any breach of X’s systems, but rather due to an unidentified individual obtaining control over a phone number…

— Safety (@Safety) January 10, 2024

SEC Security Failures 

The social media platform added that the account did not have two-factor authentication (2FA) enabled. 

This sparked a wave of criticism and ridicule targeting the federal agency. Bitcoin podcaster ‘Walker’ stated: 

“The people in charge of “protecting investors” and “regulating” Bitcoin can’t even protect their own X account with basic 2FA. What a joke.”

Industry analyst ‘Foobar’ chimed in:

“If I was going to get compromised and embarrass my commission’s technical skills that violate our very own guidance I would choose to not do it on a platform run by Elon Musk who does not respect the SEC,”

Blockchain sleuth ‘ZachXBT’ retweeted a post from Gary Gensler advocating for people to secure their accounts and use 2FA. It appears that the agency, which now has egg on its face, does not adhere to the boss’s advice! 

We can confirm that the account @SECGov was compromised and we have completed a preliminary investigation. Based on our investigation, the compromise was not due to any breach of X’s systems, but rather due to an unidentified individual obtaining control over a phone number…

— Safety (@Safety) January 10, 2024

Other comments echoed the sentiment as the SEC lambasting continued. 

“The fact that they didn’t even attempt to put 2FA on when they wield such power over markets with an utterance is not just embarrassing. Its reckless and irresponsible.”

Moreover, the incident also sparked a wave of speculation and some wild conspiracy theories ranging from accusations of an inside job to potential further delays. 

Many crypto industry experts and investors have said that the SEC was responsible for the fake news, accusing it of market manipulation.

Forget front-running, SEC insiders decided to go for full blown market manipulation, flushing all leveraged longs .. wow, just WOW https://t.co/Lvj0FvXpAb

— PlanB (@100trillionUSD) January 9, 2024

BTC Price Outlook 

Bitcoin prices spiked to $47,700 following the fake announcement and slumped to just over $45,000 after it was revealed to be a hack. 

More than $200 million in crypto positions were liquidated over the past 24 hours due to this fiasco according to Coinglass. 

I don’t post a 1-minute chart often. #Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/EbNYCq0AcK

— Root 🥕 (@therationalroot) January 9, 2024

Bitcoin is down 1.8% on the day but has recovered to trade at $46,124 at the time of writing.