The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is making headlines Wednesday after the agency’s X account was compromised and an unauthorized post was sent. Fundstrat’s Tom Lee believed it’s a reminder that Bitcoin BTC/USD is one of the only things in this world that can be fully trusted.
What Happened: Shortly after the market close on Tuesday, investors circled a post on X from the official account of the SEC indicating that a spot Bitcoin ETF had been approved.
It wasn’t long before the post was removed from the social media platform and SEC chair Gary Gensler confirmed it was "misinformation" and the SEC's X account had been compromised.
“The SEC has not approved the listing and trading of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded products,” Gensler said in a post on X.
Related Link: SEC’s Hacked Tweet On Bitcoin ETFs Causes Massive Trader Losses, Over $220M Liquidated
Why It Matters: Bitcoin traded lower following the fake post, but Wednesday morning on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Lee suggested the incident is actually a positive for the apex cryptocurrency.
“I think yesterday’s compromised tweet is just a reminder that you have to find something that you can trust in a trustless world, which is Bitcoin,” Lee said.
He told CNBC there have been trillions of transactions processed on the Bitcoin blockchain since inception and none of them have ever proven to be fraudulent.
“The Bitcoin proof-of-work blockchain has proven to be quite resilient and censorship-resistant, and again, there’s never been a re-written entry,” he said.
The timing of the approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF remains uncertain, but despite Tuesday’s flub, eventual approval is inevitable, Lee said.
When a spot ETF is ultimately approved, it’s going to act as an on-ramp for investors looking to add some exposure to the asset class via traditional financial products, he said.
“When it does [get approved], I think it’s going to be good for investors to get exposure and I think, of course, the impact on crypto prices will still be quite positive,” Lee said.
Lee told CNBC that he believed Bitcoin can trade as high as $150,000 per coin in the next 12 months and up to $500,000 per coin in the next five years.
$BTC Price Action: At publication time, Bitcoin was down about 3% over a 24-hour period at $45,445, according to Benzinga Pro.
Photo: Aaron Olson from Pixabay.
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.
