An American arrested for hacking the SEC’s X account, the policeman of the American Stock Exchange

The misleading message caused the price of bitcoin to soar. Eric Council, a 25-year-old American, was arrested by the American federal police (FBI) on Thursday, October 17, announced the United States Department of Justice (DoJ). The man is suspected of having hacked the X account (formerly Twitter) of the watchdog of the American Stock Exchange (SEC), on which a false message was published in January which caused the value of the cryptocurrency to jump.

In a press release, the DoJ explains that around January 9 Eric Council would have organized, with other – unidentified – people, the takeover of account X from the SEC. He then allegedly published, in the name of the president of the organization, Gary Gensler, a message announcing the approval of the marketing, then highly anticipated, of a new investment product in bitcoins, called ETF (Exchange Traded Fund).

Aggravated identity theft

In the wake of this message, bitcoin, which is the most important digital currency in the world by the amount in circulation, had climbed to nearly 48,000 dollars (44,000 euros), the highest in more than twenty -two months, before falling quickly again. A few minutes after the sending of the criminal message, Mr. Gensler had warned, also on X, that the regulator’s account had been ” compromise “ and that one “unauthorized tweet” had been published there.

If the SEC’s misleading post had such an impact, it is because the market had been speculating for several weeks on the approval of ETFs. These new products were to offer, for the first time, an investment replicating the performance of bitcoin without investors having to directly hold cryptoassets.

The SEC had repeatedly rejected marketing applications for similar products. But, in October 2023, a federal appeals court in Washington confirmed that the SEC was not justified in refusing these approvals. The official green light for this new investment product finally came the day after the publication of the false message, on January 10.

Eric Council is charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft and device access fraud. He faces up to five years in prison.