FTX investigates ‘unauthorized transactions’ after millions of dollars disappear from cryptocurrency wallets

FTX’s precarious status deteriorated substantially only hours after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The crypto exchange said late Friday night that it had been hacked after millions of dollars in digital assets were taken from FTX wallets, despite the business restricting withdrawals earlier in the day. The precise amount of lost money is unknown, but CoinDesk estimates it to be more than $600 million.

“FTX has been compromised.” “FTX applications are malware,” according to a message on the company’s official Telegram channel. Customers were advised to avoid the FTX website and remove its applications from their phones. Following the disclosure, FTX General Counsel Ryne Miller said that the business was taking all of its digital assets down “to prevent harm following the discovery of fraudulent transactions.”

 

 

According to CoinDesk, several members of the crypto community believe the cash was removed by someone in FTX founder Sam Bankman-close Fried’s circle. Bankman-Fried has not responded to the event. The stolen millions are in addition to at least $1 billion in client monies that disappeared from FTX before to the company’s bankruptcy filing. Reuters reports that Bankman-Fried “secretly moved” $10 billion from the cryptocurrency exchange to his trading firm Alameda Research. He allegedly revealed the financial disparity to other FTX officials on November 6th, only days before Binance launched and then abandoned its offer to save the company.

“We didn’t transfer covertly,” he told Reuters. “We had perplexing internal labelling that we misunderstood.” When confronted about the missing cash, he allegedly responded “???” On Saturday, Bankman-Fred rejected claims that he had gone to Argentina after his resignation as CEO of FTX.