On the 11th of November 2022, another episode of the FTX drama came to light. Autism Capital announced through Twitter, that around $380 million worth of assets have been laundered off both FTX Global and FTXUS.
🚨 ALERT: High probability insiders at FTX are currently trying to run off with funds. Both FTX and FTX US wallets have now been affected and commingled. The current amount being laundered is ~$380M.
Please share information below. Let's crowdsource this.
— Autism Capital 🧩 (@AutismCapital) November 12, 2022
From the beginning of the FTX drama, starting from CZ’s tweet to the liquidity crunch and the advice against regulating centralized exchanges, there has been one recurring fact that was used to provide solace. FTXUS is separate and unaffected by the drama on FTX.com.
Now, it seems that information isn’t true. Both FTX Global and FTXUS have been affected by the asset drain. The addresses also have interesting domain names like “fucksbf” and “fuckftxandsbf”.
This could mean one of two things, one, the FTX platform is being attacked, and the attacker has personal issues with both SBF and FTX. Or two, it’s the work of an employee or insider, and they are using the wallet names as a diversion or reverse optics, so they can successfully vanish with the funds.
According to the victims, they initially saw their account details and balance, but we’re unable to initiate a withdrawal. Then hours after, their balances dropped to zero.
With the speed at which the attack happened, many users are skeptical to believe it’s the work of an outsider. And since the money was moved publicly on the chain, it is believed to be the work of a high-ranking insider. Possibly SBF himself.
All of this was confirmed by a former high-ranking FTX employee. He believes it’s an inside job, simply because there are too many wallets, and too many products, that were targeted way too quickly. If it was an outsider they wouldn’t get that form of root access.
Investigating abnormalities with wallet movements related to consolidation of ftx balances across exchanges – unclear facts as other movements not clear. Will share more info as soon as we have it. @FTX_Official
— Ryne Miller (@_Ryne_Miller) November 12, 2022
In response, Ryan Miller, the general counsel at FTXUS, came out to announce an investigation into the wallet movements as there were too many unclear facts. He also promised to share more information as they have it.
Following the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings – FTX US and FTX [dot] com initiated precautionary steps to move all digital assets to cold storage. Process was expedited this evening – to mitigate damage upon observing unauthorized transactions.
— Ryne Miller (@_Ryne_Miller) November 12, 2022
3 hours later, it seems not only has FTX and FTXUS filed for bankruptcy, but they have also flagged the wallet movement as unauthorized transactions.
