A man has been arrested on charges related to the hack of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s X (formerly Twitter) account in January 2024, which resulted in a Bitcoin price spike.
The Department of Justice (DoJ) said the individual, named as Eric Council Jr, aged 25 from Alabama, is alleged to have conspired to with others to take unauthorized control of the SEC’s X account, posting a fake announcement that the agency has approved Bitcoin Exchange Traded Funds.
The false post on January 9, made in the name of SEC Chair Gary Gensler, resulted in the price of Bitcoin surging by more than $1000 per coin.
Shortly after, the SEC regained control over its X account to confirm that the post was unauthorized and the result of a security breach. Following this corrective disclosure, the value of Bitcoin decreased by more than $2000 per coin.
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