Breaking: U.S SEC takes down spot Bitcoin ETF approval announcement, again

Update: It has been confirmed that the SEC has approved all 11 Bitcoin ETFs. Read more, here

Confusion takes over the cryptocurrency market as once again the US Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) makes an approval announcement but only to take it down. In today’s series, the official website of the SEC published a PDF announcing the approval of all 11 spot Bitcoin ETF applications. However, the link to the announcement was taken down immediately after it caught the crypto community’s attention.

Some market experts are speculating that the website crashed because of the high volume of traffic directed at it. However, some are speculating that the announcement was made much earlier than intended, hence the removal. Neither the commission nor the chairman – Gary Gensler have made any comments on the post and delete fiasco.

And, it still remains unclear whether or not the commission has actually approved all 11 spot Bitcoin ETF applications. Notably, the announcement published today read,

“IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED, pursuant to Section 19(b)(2) of the Exchange Act,87 that the Proposals (SR-NYSEARCA-2021-90; SR-NYSEARCA-2023-44; SR-NYSEARCA- 2023-58; SR-NASDAQ-2023-016; SR-NASDAQ-2023-019; SR-CboeBZX-2023-028; SR- CboeBZX-2023-038; SR-CboeBZX-2023-040; SR-CboeBZX-2023-042; SR-CboeBZX-2023- 044; SR-CboeBZX-2023-072) be, and hereby are, approved on an accelerated basis.”

This acted as a confirmation of approval for all 11 spot Bitcoin ETF applications. The applications were from Blackrock, Valkyrie, Franklin, Bitwise, Fidelity, Hashdex, Ark Invest, Grayscale, WisdomTree, Van Eck and Invesco Galaxy.  But the link that gave the above information now looks like:

Source: SEC

FBI roped in to investigate X spot Bitcoin ETF Tweet

Subsequently, the SEC confirmed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation will be investigating the perpetrator behind its X fiasco. The official social media handle announced that the commission had approved a spot Bitcoin ETF on 9th January. This resulted in an immediate market frenzy, even impacting the price of BTC.

However, the Chairman – Gary Gensler – took to his official X handle to confirm that the statement was inaccurate. He added that this was a result of a hack. This resulted in the commission being dragged on X with several pointing out that the commission itself does not practice what it preaches when it comes to securing accounts.