On 10 January, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the first spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). But in typical crypto fashion, even a dry regulatory announcement was high on drama: the day before, the SEC regulator was forced to admit that its X social media account “had been compromised” after a tweet prematurely claimed that approval had been granted.
In the statement issued alongside the (genuine) approval, the regulator stressed that “while we approved the listing and trading of certain spot bitcoin exchange traded product shares today, we did not approve or endorse bitcoin”.