FTX, which was once among the top cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, essentially collapsed this week. For a brief while, it appeared that rival Binance would step in to buy FTX, but after seeing FTX’s financial records, Binance quickly withdrew.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX, is reportedly flying to Argentina, albeit the information has not yet received official confirmation. FTX and FTX US wallets were reportedly the target of a hack involving a token transfer worth about $600 million.
Assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars vanished from the troubled cryptocurrency exchange FTX on Friday, according to exchange officials, in what may have been a “hacking” event.
The FTX said Friday that it was investigating a barrage of “abnormal” asset transfers flooding across accounts.
The company is already in a worst state of financial and reputational free fall. A further examination seems to indicate that up to $600 million might have been stolen.
Ryne Miller, the company’s general counsel, tweeted, “Investigating abnormalities with wallet movements related to consolidation of ftx balances across exchanges – unclear facts as other movements not clear. Will share more info as soon as we have it.”
The crypto industry as a whole has suspicions that the hack may have been carried out by insiders. However, because there isn’t any conclusive evidence to support the identity of the hacker, the accusations made on social media remain speculative. Many FTX customers have reported seeing $0 balances in their FTX.com and FTX US wallets on Twitter.
Due to a severe liquidity crisis, Mr. Bankman-Fried resigned as FTX’s CEO early on Saturday morning, and Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings were started. Meanwhile, John J. Ray III has been chosen to lead the FTX Group as its CEO.