Markets gasped and then settled back down on Tuesday afternoon after the official U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Twitter account was "compromised" and sent a messaged saying that it "grants approval for #Bitcoin ETFs for listing on all registered national securities exchanges."
For a brief moment, Bitcoin shot as high as $47,680.10 before settling back down to $46,237.20 at the time of writing, according to CoinGecko.
The @SECGov twitter account was compromised, and an unauthorized tweet was posted. The SEC has not approved the listing and trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded products.
— Gary Gensler (@GaryGensler) January 9, 2024
It was SEC Chair Gary Gensler who, minutes after the SEC tweet went out from the main account at 4:11 p.m. EST, debunked the news with his own tweet.
"The SEC has not approved the listing and trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded products," Gensler said on Tuesday afternoon.

Editors note: This is a developing story and will be updated.