The hacker responsible for stealing over $400 million from FTX and FTX.US in November may be capitalizing on the buzz surrounding Sam Bankman-Fried’s fraud trial to obscure the stolen funds, suggests CertiK director of security operations Hugh Brooks.
Referred to as “FTX Drainer,” the hacker initiated movements of millions in Ether obtained from the November attack just days before the start of Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial. These movements have continued throughout the trial, with approximately 15,000 ETH (approximately $24 million) transferred to three new wallet addresses over the last three days.
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Brooks proposes that the increased publicity surrounding the FTX trial could be motivating the individual behind the fund drain to hasten asset concealment. The hacker may have assumed that the trial would monopolize industry attention, making it difficult to track stolen funds while simultaneously covering the trial.
To provide some context, FTX, previously valued at $32 billion, declared bankruptcy on November 11, the same day employees at the exchange noticed substantial fund withdrawals. An October 9 report from Wired offers new insights into the events of the attack’s night.
As FTX employees discovered the attacker’s access to wallets, they rushed to secure the remaining funds. The decision was made to transfer a significant amount of the remaining funds, estimated to be between $400 million and $500 million, to a privately-owned Ledger cold wallet while waiting for BitGo’s response regarding the custody of the exchange’s assets post-bankruptcy. This move likely prevented the attacker from gaining the full $1 billion.
Additionally, Brooks noted that the hacker seems to have adjusted the method used to obscure the stolen funds. While initially attempting to launder funds through a “peel chain” method, the hacker now employs a more sophisticated technique. The illicit assets stored in the original Bitcoin wallet are distributed across multiple wallets, moving smaller portions of funds to various additional wallets. This tactic considerably prolongs the tracking process.
As of now, there is no identification of the individuals or groups behind the FTX hack, and investigations are ongoing.
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