Bitcoin Whiplash on Bogus ETF Approval News Sparks Market Manipulation Memes

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) took around fifteen minutes to dismiss its Bitcoin ETF approval post on X as false. While the Bitcoin price was well within range amid the chaos, memes against the SEC have created havoc.

Notably, the cryptocurrency market experienced a brief period of volatility. But Bitcoin’s value swung within a $1,000 range. The king coin took a downturn as SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s post on X clarified the bogus approval news, wiping out the short-lived gains. According to TradingView’s Bitcoin to USD daily charts, Bitcoin fluctuated between $46,700 and $47,800 during this episode. However, early estimates believe it led to a fairly huge amount of investor losses.

Before this incident, Bitcoin had shown strong performance, breaking past the $47,000 mark on Tuesday. Despite a modest retreat, BTC stood at $45,900 at the time of reporting.

SEC ‘should investigate itself’

The identity of the hacker responsible for the false post on SEC’s official X account is unknown. While the SEC is expected to investigate the breach, the crypto community had a field day with memes.

Turns out the SEC was behind all the market manipulation after all. pic.twitter.com/ey1SmseOAz

— _Checkɱate 🔑⚡🌋☢️🛢️ (@_Checkmatey_) January 9, 2024

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said in a post, “Days like this remind me that 1/ the SEC should be investigating itself for multiple things 2/ crypto Twitter remains undefeated in memes.”

Meanwhile, the swift recovery of the SEC’s X account got crypto trader Bob Loukas insinuating that such efficiency might point to an inside job. Speculation is rife within the crypto community about whether the SEC’s ‘premature’ post regarding Bitcoin ETF approval was a blunder subsequently retracted, rather than a hack as stated.

Caitlin Long, the founder and CEO of Avanti Financial Group, posed a hypothetical scenario involving Elon Musk potentially having IP address evidence of the post’s origin. In a separate response, Elon Musk remarked, “It does seem like automatic destruction of government documents would be seriously illegal.”

Whistleblower Edward Snowden chided SEC Chair Gary Gensler for the oversight and joked about his own infamous history of leaks.

That said, the episode does underline serious concerns about cybersecurity, particularly within regulatory institutions.