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The January 9, 2024 post claiming the SEC had approved spot bitcoin exchange-traded products was false and unauthorized. Prosecutors said a SIM swap helped the intruders take over the SEC’s @SECGov X account; the Department of Justice later reported that bitcoin rose by more than $1,000 after the post and fell by more than $2,000 after the SEC correction. The SEC announced its actual approval of certain spot bitcoin ETP share listings the next day, January 10. Eric Council Jr. later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 14 months in prison.
What did the false SEC post say?
At 4:11 p.m. ET on Tuesday, January 9, 2024, an unauthorized user posted from the SEC’s X account that the Commission had approved spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds. About two minutes later, the account posted “$BTC” and liked two posts from accounts not affiliated with the SEC. The agency said it had not approved the listings when the post appeared.
At 4:26 p.m., then-SEC Chair Gary Gensler alerted the public that the account had been compromised and that the Commission had not approved spot bitcoin ETP listings. SEC staff deleted the false post, removed the likes, and published a compromise notice at 4:42 p.m. The SEC said unauthorized access was terminated sometime between 4:40 and 5:30 p.m. ET. Its account of the incident is at the SEC’s January 12 statement.
How did the account takeover happen?
According to the DOJ’s account of conduct Council admitted in his plea, Council and others used a SIM swap involving the phone number associated with @SECGov. Council allegedly used false identity information to obtain a SIM tied to the victim’s phone line, inserted it into a newly purchased iPhone, and received password-reset codes from X. He passed a code to co-conspirators, one of whom used it to access the account and publish the false announcement. These mechanics are described in the DOJ’s plea announcement.
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A SIM swap redirects a phone number to a different SIM or device. In this case, the alleged value of control over the number was that it enabled receipt of a code used to reset the account password; the DOJ says the code was then shared with the co-conspirator who accessed X.
What the SEC said about its own systems
The SEC said it found no evidence that the intruder accessed SEC systems, data, devices, or other social-media accounts. Its incident page also says multi-factor authentication had been disabled for @SECGov by X Support in July 2023 after access problems, and that SEC staff reenabled it after the compromise. The agency’s account does not establish that the MFA setting alone caused the takeover. See the SEC’s incident information.
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How did Bitcoin react?
The DOJ reported that bitcoin increased by more than $1,000 after the false post and decreased by more than $2,000 after the SEC confirmed it was unauthorized. Those figures describe the sequence cited by DOJ; its release does not provide a named independent market-price series or quantify how much of either move the post caused. They should not be read as a precise measure of the post’s effect on the market.
What was the real SEC bitcoin ETP decision?
The false post on January 9 was not an early publication of an approval. On January 10, 2024, the SEC separately announced that it had approved the listing and trading of a number of spot bitcoin ETP shares. Gensler said the action concerned ETPs holding bitcoin and did not endorse bitcoin itself. In his words: “While we approved the listing and trading of certain spot bitcoin ETP shares today, we did not approve or endorse bitcoin.” The announcement and statement are available in the SEC’s January 10 statement.
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| When | Source and status | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| January 9, 2024 | @SECGov on X; unauthorized | A false claim said spot bitcoin ETPs had been approved. The SEC said no approval had occurred at that time. |
| January 10, 2024 | SEC announcement; official action | The Commission announced approval of listing and trading of a number of spot bitcoin ETP shares. |
The SEC’s stated public-communications policy is also useful when checking such claims. Gensler wrote that “The Commission does not use social media channels to make its actions public; social media posts only amplify announcements that are made on our website.” The SEC’s incident page records guidance that Commission action on exchange rule filings would be posted on the relevant SEC website section and then in the Federal Register, “the first public indication of a Commission’s action.”
What happened to Eric Council Jr.?
Council, then 25 and from Athens, Alabama, pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia to one count of conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft. The DOJ later said he was sentenced to 14 months in prison, ordered to forfeit $50,000, and given three years of supervised release. The sentence is detailed in the DOJ sentencing release.
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The sentencing release says Council admitted receiving about $50,000 for SIM swaps and describes attempted additional SIM swaps in June 2024. Those surrounding details, like the account-takeover mechanics, are DOJ’s description of the court record; the plea and sentence are the established case outcomes.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to verify a future SEC announcement
For a market-moving claim attributed to the SEC, look for the corresponding Commission announcement on the SEC website rather than treating an X post as the official action. The agency says social media amplifies website announcements; in this case, the hacked post was corrected, and the actual ETP decision appeared in a separate SEC statement the following day.
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