Bitcoin price spikes after government account posts ‘$BTC’ tweet

‘The unauthorised tweet regarding bitcoin ETFs was not made by the SEC or its staff,’ a spokesperson says

The price of bitcoin spiked on Tuesday after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) posted that it had made a major decision about the cryptocurrency’s future, before retracting the statement.

Crypto investors are currently waiting to see if the SEC will approve or reject applications for the first ever exchange-traded funds (ETF) for bitcoin, which could see billions of institutional investment flood the market.

A post on the regulator’s official account said that it had granted approval for the bitcoin ETFs “for listing on all registered national securities exchanges”. A second post simply stating ‘$BTC’ also appeared but both were soon deleted.

The SEC then said that its account on X, formerly Twitter, had been “compromised” after an “unknown party” gained unauthorised access.

“The unauthorised tweet regarding bitcoin ETFs was not made by the SEC or its staff,” an SEC spokesperson said.

“The SEC will work with law enforcement and our partners across government to investigate the matter and determine appropriate next steps relating to both the unauthorised access and any related misconduct.”

Despite the SEC saying that no decision has been made yet, some crypto analysts remain confident that the regulator will approve at least one of the ETF applications.

“While we don’t know for sure if the SEC is going to approve a bitcoin spot ETF, it is looking increasingly likely given the activity we’re seeing from the applicants, with lots of amendments to the initial registration form currently happening around fees, as applicants look to compete with one another to attract investors,” Simon Peters, a market analyst at the online trading platform eToro, told The Independent.

“In terms of what happens to the price, it is difficult to say. We could have a ‘sell-the-news’ situation and the price could spike lower... or we could have a flurry of buying activity as retail traders try to front run the future inflows from institutional investors.”

Mr Peters also noted that an ETF approval or rejection from the SEC is not the only factor capable of having a big impact on the direction of bitcoin’s price.

The upcoming ‘halving’ event, which will see rewards for mining the cryptocurrency slashed in half, has historically signalled the beginning of a record-breaking price run due to the restricted supply.

“The next block reward halving is only 105 days away, and we’ve seen in the past how this has been the marker for the start of the bull markets that have followed,” he said.

“Also, with inflation cooling across major economies we could see the respective central banks begin to loosen financial conditions, which historically is when asset prices – equity and crypto markets – have performed well.”