According to ZachXBT, the hackers received funds from a Bitcoin mixer that used a protocol that connects different blockchains. John Ray confirmed that USD 372 million left FTX without authorization and said nobody knows where those assets are.
The cybercriminals who stole over USD 600 million from FTX continue moving the funds to launder them. The theft occurred on November 11th, a few hours after the cryptocurrency exchange filed for bankruptcy protection.
ZachXBT, a pseudonymous blockchain analyst, said the hackers had transferred part of the stolen funds to OKX using a Bitcoin mixer. The expert reported that they had sent about 225 BTC, equivalent to more than USD 4.1 million, to the cryptocurrency exchange.
The cybercriminals started to deposit BTC into the mixer on November 20th after using a protocol that connects different blockchains.
According to ZachXBT, there was a pattern with wallets that received funds from the Bitcoin mixer. He said each wallet withdrew 50% from the mixer and deposited 50% on the OKX cryptocurrency exchange.
FTX Owes over USD 3 Billion to Its Largest Creditors
Afterward, the director of OKX stated they were aware of the situation and would investigate the transaction flow.
During the hack against FTX, the stolen funds went to two wallets on Solana and Ethereum. Since then, the addresses of the cybercriminals have moved the funds to blockchains like Binance Smart Chain, Polygon, and Avalanche.
The effects of the collapse of FTX have spread to the overall crypto market, causing leading cryptocurrencies to lose value. The prices of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) have dropped significantly and are struggling to recover their bullish trend.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin is trading around USD 16,924 and has accumulated a 2.4% gain over the last 24 hours. While its daily trading volume is above USD 26.49 billion, its market capitalization is about USD 325.26 billion, according to CoinGecko.
Inexperienced, Unsophisticated, and Potentially Compromised People Cause FTX to Collapse
John Ray, a bankruptcy specialist who took over as CEO of FTX, said this is an unprecedented situation. He said in a US court filing that there was faulty regulatory oversight and a lack of corporate control.
FTX filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States on November 11th amid the crash of the crypto industry. Before that, investors withdrew their holdings from the cryptocurrency exchange in less than three days, and Binance abandoned a bailout agreement.
The new CEO of FTX said he had never seen a failure of corporate controls and an absence of reliable financial information like those before. He added that this is an unprecedented situation as few inexperienced, unsophisticated, and potentially compromised people concentrated control.
The bankruptcy specialist did not mention the names of any specific regulators in his 30-page presentation.
Ray confirmed that USD 372 million left FTX without authorization after filing the bankruptcy protection. Besides, he pointed out that no one knows the exact positions of those stolen assets. However, the expert said they were working with some restructuring consultants to deal with that situation.
By Alexander Salazar
