The entire globe has been witnessing the ordeal of FTX and Alameda Research. The founders are pleading guilty to most of the charges put forth by the U.S. government. Now, wallets linked to Alameda Research are undergoing activity.
Earlier today, it was brought to light that funds from Alameda wallets were moved. Afterward, the assets were swapped with certain ERC-20s for Ethereum [ETH]. These tokens were precisely being swapped for ETH/USDT.
As observed, a wallet address with the prefix 0x64e9 received more than 600 ETH from Alameda wallets, with part of the transaction being converted to USDT and the other portion transferred to ChangeNow.
Additionally, several pointed out that these transactions weren’t related to liquidators. On-Chain analysis firm, Ergo stated,
“Alameda ETH addresses are digging around in the sofa for spare change and swapping bits ERC20s for ETH/USDT. ETH and USDT then funneled through instant exchangers. Rings some major alarm bells…”
Lastly, Bitcoin transactions were availed. Four Bitcoin addresses are possibly linked to the wallets behind the transactions, according to on-chain expert ZachXBT. These wallets comprised 11.9 BTC, or nearly $198,000.
Is Sam Bankman-Fried behind these transactions?
All fingers were pointed at FTX’s former chief Sam Bankman-Fried. SBF was recently released on bail. Considering SBF’s criminal record, many conjectured that it may be an insider’s job to remove whatever is still in those wallets. Furthermore, a few others pointed out that SBF would HODL the acquired BTC for the next couple of years.
A few other theories followed suit. Many people believed that the way in which these funds were being switched seemed like an exploiter could be behind it.