The days follow each other and look alike on the side of the exchange platform FTX. Indeed, to the ray of bad news is now added a hack which has led to unauthorized transactions of US$515 million.
The news was announced in a statement on Twitter by FTX’s new CEO, John J. Ray III.
FTX is not about to forget this month of November 2022
For a week now, one of the main crypto platforms, FTX, has gone from uncertain agony to bankruptcy. This spectacular crash is materialized by a declaration on Twitter by its founder and now ex-CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, on November 11, 2022 about the future of FTX, now in the hands of the American authorities. But the cold sweats do not stop there for customers, employees of the firm and, more broadly, the world of crypto.
On Twitter, the announcements of Sam Bankman-Fried gave way to those of John J. Ray III, the new captain of a sinking ship. On November 12, the day after the announcement of FTX’s bankruptcy, the director confirmed that ” unauthorized access to certain assets [détenus par FTX, ndlr] took place “. For his part, the New York Times estimates that no less than $515 million was stolen.
The alert was given on the same November 12, 2022 on FTX’s Telegram channel via a message which mentioned not only the missing assets, but also potential viruses such as trojans on the crypto platform’s applications and websites.
The funds would have passed through Kraken
Also on Twitter, the head of Kraken’s security department, Nick Percoco, claimed to have identified a user of his platform, through which at least part of the suspicious funds passed. This becomes particularly embarrassing, given the gravity of the facts. But the advantage is that the progress of the investigation can be followed in real time on Twitter. Rather than contacting FTX and John J. Ray III directly, Nick Percoco received a response to his own tweet from FTX’s general counsel. The latter said he was interested in anything Percoco could share with him and asked him to join him.
This situation seems ludicrous as this same investigation continues its course on November 15, 2022 with a potential “ insider trading “. In the meantime, the fall of FTX has dragged the price of many cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin in its wake. At the same time, the liquidity crisis experienced by a large number of crypto platforms is far from over.
Sources: The New York Times, elliptical, The world
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