A single fake Twitter post has sparked chaos in both the crypto space and broader financial markets, and both the Securities and Exchange Commission and Twitter itself are looking into what happened.

"The SEC has determined that there was unauthorized access to and activity on the @SECGov x.com account by an unknown party for a brief period of time shortly after 4 pm ET," the commission told Decrypt late Tuesday. "That unauthorized access has been terminated."

"The SEC will work with law enforcement and our partners across government to investigate the matter and determine appropriate next steps relating to both the unauthorized access and any related misconduct," the statement continued.

Describing the SEC Twitter account as "compromised," chair Gary Gensler rushed to correct the record, saying that "the SEC has not approved the listing and trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded products." The crypto and financial communities eagerly anticipated such a move, albeit most assuming a late Wednesday decision deadline.