Bitcoin prices soar to almost $48,000 after post from SEC's hacked account

An unauthorised message posted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission's official X account, formerly known as Twitter, briefly sent bitcoin prices soaring, forcing the market regulator to deny it had approved a new cryptocurrency product.

Just after 4 pm local time [2100 GMT] on Tuesday, the price of the world's largest digital currency in terms of circulation surged towards its highest level for more than 22 months, before falling again a few minutes later.

The jump in the price of bitcoin to almost $48,000 came immediately after the SEC published a message on its X account suggesting that it had approved the long-awaited launch of a new type of investment product, known as an ETF.

The account later pulled the post and tweeted that the SEC hadn't approved the new product, claiming the account was compromised.

"The @SECGov X account was compromised, and an unauthorised post was posted. The SEC has not approved the listing and trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded products," the SEC said in a tweet.

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler took to his own X account to reiterate the same message.

"The unauthorised tweet regarding bitcoin ETFs was not made by the SEC or its staff," an SEC spokesperson later told AFP news agency.

Weeks of speculation

The market has been speculating for weeks that the SEC would grant approval for this new product, which would, for the first time, offer investors an index fund that replicates the performance of bitcoin without them having to hold the cryptocurrency directly.

Last year, a federal appeals court in Washington confirmed that the SEC was not justified in its decision to deny asset manager Grayscale approval for its bitcoin ETF, sparking speculation that it would soon approve such a fund.

The Wall Street regulator has until Wednesday to rule on the oldest application for a bitcoin ETF currently under consideration, that of the investment company 21Shares.

If the SEC were to give the ETF the green light, analysts widely expect it would broaden the appeal of — and access to — bitcoin and accelerate the adoption of this digital currency.