A man has been sentenced to 14 months in prison for his involvement in infiltrating the SEC's official X account and posting false tweets approving a Bitcoin ETF in January of last year

According to CNBC, the US Department of Justice announced that a judge sentenced an Alabama man to 14 months in prison for his involvement in the January 2024 invasion of the US Securities and Exchange Commission's X account, which was used to send a tweet causing a brief surge of over $1000 in Bitcoin prices. The man pleaded guilty three months ago in the US District Court in Washington D.C. to conspiring to commit serious identity theft and device access fraud, and helped others gain control of the US Securities and Exchange Commission's account. The X account was used to falsely claim that the US SEC has officially approved a Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund (ETF). After the tweet was published, BTC rose, but its price dropped by over $2000 after the US SEC quickly regained control of the account and called the tweet false. It is worth mentioning that the US SEC announced on the second day that it has approved a rule change allowing the creation of Bitcoin ETFs.