FBI Charges AL Man With Hacking SEC’s X Account

Reuters reports:

An Alabama man was arrested on Thursday over criminal charges that he hacked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s X account earlier this year, in an action that caused bitcoin’s value to spike, federal prosecutors announced.

In January, a hacker posted false news about a widely anticipated announcement the SEC was expected to make about bitcoin, shocking the market and sending the cryptocurrency’s price spiking. The post on @SECGov said the securities regulator had approved exchange-traded funds to hold bitcoin.

Eric Council Jr., 25, of Athens, Alabama, was arrested on Thursday morning in connection with the hack, the U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of Columbia said in a statement on Thursday.

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