House Financial Service Committee Republicans demanded that SEC Commissioner Gary Gensler answer questions from the committee about a hack of the agency’s X account on Tuesday.
The SEC’s X, formerly Twitter, account posted Tuesday that the agency had approved ETFs for cryptocurrencies, briefly spiking Bitcoin prices before it was revealed to be a hoax. The agency said the post was made after its account was compromised.
The agency did end up officially approving cryptocurrency ETFs the next day, keeping with a deadline set by a court order.
Committee Chair Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) led the letter, joined by Reps. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.), French Hill (R-Ark.) and Ann Wagner (R-Mo.).
“According to X’s preliminary investigation, the SEC account did not have two-factor authentication enabled and an unidentified individual obtained control of a phone number associated with the SEC’s account,” the group wrote. “This failure is unacceptable, and it is disturbing that your agency could not even meet the standard you require of private industry.”
“Given yesterday’s tweet, we expect the SEC to hold itself to the same requirements that are imposed on companies throughout the country,” they continued. All market participants deserve transparency from you and your agency.”
The incorrect post was public for about 30 minutes.
Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) slammed the incident as “unacceptable” on Tuesday and called for answers from the agency.
“Just like the SEC would demand accountability from a public company if they made such a colossal market-moving mistake, Congress needs answers on what just happened,” Hagerty, member of the Senate Banking Committee, said in a post on X.