An Alabama man has admitted to taking part in a January 2024 hack of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission social media account designed to manipulate the price of bitcoin.

The case stems from the then highly anticipated SEC approval of spot bitcoin ETFs, with the security breach leading to a post shared on the agency’s account one day before the actual approval.

A day after the hack, the agency approved rule changes that allowed the creation of bitcoin ETFs. Eric Council Jr. admitted to conspiring with others who took control of the SEC's X account ...

The hack occurred when the SEC was considering approving ETFs that contain cryptocurrency. A day after the hack, the agency approved rule changes that allowed the creation of bitcoin ETFs.

The SEC officially approved the first exchange-traded funds that hold bitcoin the following day. Bitcoin has recently been trading around $100,000. Council carried out what's known as a "SIM swap ...

At the time, no Bitcoin ETFs had been approved in the U.S. – although the SEC did eventually announcing it was approving a limited number of spot ETFs a day later. According to investigators ...