A man was sentenced to 14 months in prison for participating in the hacking of the SEC's official X account in January last year to post a false tweet approving a Bitcoin ETF

PANews reported on May 17 that according to CNBC, the US Department of Justice said that a judge sentenced an Alabama man to 14 months in prison for his involvement in the January 2024 hacking of the US Securities and Exchange Commission's X account, which was used to send a tweet that caused the price of Bitcoin to briefly surge by more than $1,000.

The man pleaded guilty three months ago in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. to conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft and access device fraud, and helped others take control of the SEC account. The X account was used to falsely claim that the SEC had officially approved a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). BTC rose after the tweet, but its price fell by more than $2,000 after the SEC quickly regained control of the account and called the tweet false. It is worth mentioning that the SEC said the next day that it had approved a rule change to allow the creation of a Bitcoin ETF.