Thomas Daniels
Eric Council Jr. has entered a guilty plea to the charges against him for allegedly helping to breach the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) X (previously Twitter) account. According to Bloomberg, Council might forfeit $50,000 as part of his guilty agreement.
On February 9, 2025, federal prosecutors filed the requested forfeiture in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Following the misleading post that falsely stated the SEC had approved the first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States, Council supposedly “personally obtained” the fine.
Bitcoin’s price momentarily rose in response to the phony SEC notification, but it quickly fell as the agency acknowledged that its account had been compromised. Council was taken into custody by the FBI in October 2024, and prosecutors were reportedly discussing a plea agreement.
Council entered a guilty plea to one count of aggravated identity theft and device fraud on February 10, 2025. The sentence date set by Judge Amy Berman Jackson is May 16, 2025.
Effects on the Market and Regulatory Advancements
The next day, the SEC formally approved spot Bitcoin ETFs in spite of the illegal post. Significant investor interest was stoked by the decision, especially in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), which saw the largest inflows into the market. Over $120 billion in net assets and over $40 billion in inflows were accumulated by the end of 2024 by U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs.
Another significant development for cryptocurrency investment vehicles came in the following months when the SEC authorized spot Ethereum ETFs. Meanwhile, regulatory changes brought about by Donald Trump’s comeback and the 2024 U.S. presidential election resulted in high-profile SEC resignation, including former Chair Gary Gensler.
A surge of ETF applications is still occurring in the larger cryptocurrency sector, with companies vying for approval of Litecoin, XRP, Solana, and Dogecoin ETFs in response to increasing institutional interest.
