On October 16, Bitcoin price surged to a high of $29.4k, following a tweet from CoinTelegraph that BlackRock's Bitcoin Sport ETF had received approval.
Cointelegraph, a popular crypto news outlet, issued an apology on October 16, 2023, after posting a false tweet claiming that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had approved BlackRock's Bitcoin spot ETF (exchange-traded fund).
The tweet caused widespread confusion in the crypto space and led to dramatic fluctuations in the market, with nearly $100 million in liquidations taking place across cryptocurrency exchanges within an hour of the false tweet. The tweet was later revealed to be inaccurate, and an internal investigation by the platform revealed that the social media team rushed to post the news without verifying the source.
“Cointelegraph’s social media team posted a message on X without prior editorial approval stating that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission had approved BlackRock’s iShares spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, or ETF. This was false, the result of misinformation. The news lead originated from an unconfirmed screenshot posted by an X user who claimed it was from the Bloomberg Terminal.” said Cointelegraph in a blog post.
The false report claimed that BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF received approval, which led to Bitcoin's price rocketing from $27,700 per coin to almost $30,000 in just a few minutes.
However, BlackRock has denied rumors that its planned Bitcoin ETF received approval from the SEC. The approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF would allow investors to gain exposure to the cryptocurrency without actually owning it, potentially opening the door for more widespread adoption and investment in the digital asset.
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