A 25-year-old Alabama resident named Eric Council Jr. was arrested Thursday morning in connection with the unauthorized takeover of the Security and Exchange Commission’s X account in January, which caused the value of Bitcoin to spike $1,000, according to the Justice Department.
The hack took place on January 9, a day before the SEC’s long-awaited approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds. According to a complaint filed in federal court in Washington, DC, the hackers used the compromised account to falsely post that the approval had taken place. Shortly after, SEC Chair Gary Gensler took to his personal account to announce that the claim was false and the post was “unauthorized.”
