Hackers briefly hijacked the SEC's X account, unleashing bogus Bitcoin ETF approval news and causing a $90 million liquidation frenzy in futures markets.
On Tuesday, January 9th, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) official X account (@SECGov) was hacked. Hackers posted two tweets: one suggesting approval of the highly anticipated Bitcoin ETF and another simply stating "$BTC." These tweets, though quickly deleted, were enough to trigger a rapid swing in Bitcoin prices.
https://twitter.com/GaryGensler/status/1744833049064288387?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1744833049064288387%7Ctwgr%5Ee39dfceb938109293398726f7b95281500e35885%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcointelegraph.com%2Fnews%2Fsec-account-hacked-no-spot-bitcoin-etf-approval
Short-lived surge and leveraged losses:
Bitcoin saw a near-$1,000 jump, soaring from $46,800 to $47,680, before plummeting back down to $45,400 as the fake news was exposed.
Traders, both human and automated, reacted aggressively. Over $500 million in futures positions were opened within ten minutes of the initial tweet. However, this swift action resulted in significant liquidations as prices reversed.
$50 million in long positions and $36 million in short positions were liquidated due to the volatile market movements.
Leverage washed out, signal for Lower Volatility:
Liquidation data suggests the sudden price swings effectively reduced leverage in popular Bitcoin futures products, potentially indicating a short-term decline in volatility.
The incident sparked criticism of the SEC's security measures, with some questioning their ability to safeguard trillion-dollar markets if their own social media accounts are vulnerable.
https://twitter.com/SECGov/status/1744837121406349714?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1744837121406349714%7Ctwgr%5Ee39dfceb938109293398726f7b95281500e35885%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcointelegraph.com%2Fnews%2Fsec-account-hacked-no-spot-bitcoin-etf-approval
ETF decision still looming
A decision on the thirteen proposed Bitcoin ETFs is expected on Wednesday. Bloomberg analysts predict an over 90% chance of approval, while crypto market participants remain slightly more cautious, placing the odds at 85%.
