The FTX website, February 9, 2022 (AFP/Archives/OLIVIER DOULIERY)
The new boss of FTX, the now bankrupt cryptocurrency giant, assured Saturday that the company is doing “everything to secure all assets”, after unauthorized transactions, which could result in the disappearance of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“FTX US and FTX.com continue to make every effort to secure all assets, wherever located,” according to a statement from John Ray, the group’s new CEO and Head of Restructuring, posted to Twitter by Ryne on Saturday. Miller, chief legal officer of FTX.
“Unauthorized access to certain assets has occurred,” confirmed John Ray.
This replaced Friday at the head of FTX Sam Bankman-Fried, its founder, who had just resigned. The cryptocurrency exchange platform, a very little regulated sector, had the same day placed under the protection of Chapter 11 of the American bankruptcy law.
FTX officials did not provide details on the amount of transactions observed, but several hundred thousand dollars may have disappeared.
The cryptocurrency analysis firm Elliptic thus indicates, in an analysis published on Saturday, that “only 24 hours after the bankruptcy filing (…), the portfolios of FTX have been emptied of more than 663 million dollars”.
In detail, “477 million dollars would have been stolen, while the rest would have been transferred to secure storage by FTX itself”, specifies Elliptic.
FTX, which 10 days ago was still considered the second largest cryptocurrency platform in the world and was valued at some $32 billion, suffered a lightning rout.
The company is now trying to reassure.
“Among other things, we are in the process of removing trading and withdrawal functionality and transferring as many digital assets as possible to a new cold wallet custodian” i.e. a wallet not connected to the internet intended to store cryptocurrency, detailed the new boss of FTX in the statement posted on Twitter.
John Ray also clarified that “an active investigation of the facts (…) was launched immediately in response. We have been in contact and are coordinating with the law enforcement and regulators concerned”.
– “Anomalies” –
Friday marked a turning point for FTX after a week of turmoil. Its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, 30, considered to be at the origin of one of the most influential successes in the world of cryptocurrency and so far a multi-billionaire, resigned and was replaced in the process by John Ray .
Then, overnight, FTX’s Chief Legal Officer, Ryne Miller, tweeted about an “investigation into anomalies with portfolio movements related to the consolidation of FTX balances between exchanges,” and referred to ” unclear facts because other movements are unclear”.
He then, on Saturday morning, indicated that “unauthorized transactions” had been observed, and that the platform had “taken precautionary measures to move all digital assets to cold storage”.
“The process has been expedited (Friday) evening – to mitigate the damage when observing unauthorized transactions,” he said.
The discomfiture came to light when press reports revealed that his Alameda Research fund was investing in cryptoassets issued by FTX.com in a risky financial arrangement that risks revealing major conflicts of interest.
FTX’s troubles have also been accentuated by the number one in the sector, Binance, which announced that it was selling a cryptocurrency linked to the FTX group on Sunday, then offered to buy FTX.com on Tuesday before retracting on Wednesday.
The group is under investigation by the Securities Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice in New York, according to the New York Times citing sources familiar with the investigation.
And the fall from favor extended to the NBA, with the Miami Heat announcing that their stadium, the FTX Arena, would be renamed.
© 2022 AFP
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