The price of bitcoin experienced a surge on Monday in response to a false report circulating on social media, claiming that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had approved a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).
According to FactSet, bitcoin briefly reached $29,900, marking a significant 10% increase before retracing most of those gains. However, bitcoin prices are still up over 4% for the day.
The misleading information originated from a now-deleted post on the social platform X by Cointelegraph, a reputable crypto news service. The post stated that BlackRock’s iShares had received approval for a spot bitcoin ETF from the SEC.
Upon discovering the error, Cointelegraph issued a statement on social media, acknowledging their mistake and expressing regret for the dissemination of inaccurate information. They assured their audience that an internal investigation was underway and promised transparency by sharing the investigation findings within three hours.
In response to the incident, a spokesperson from BlackRock clarified that the iShares Bitcoin ETF is still under review by the SEC, contradicting the false claim.
As of now, the SEC has not provided any official comment regarding the situation.