FTX funds on the fly as thief converts thousands of ETH to Bitcoin

According to the blockchain analysis company Chainalysis, funds stolen from the crypto exchange FTX are now being converted from ETH to Bitcoin. On November 20, Chainalysis took to Twitter to encourage exchanges to freeze these coins, should the thief attempt to convert them to fiat or further obfuscate the assets in other ways.

1/ Funds stolen from FTX are on the move and exchanges should be alert to freeze them if the hacker tries to cash out

— Chain Analysis (@chainanalysis) 20 November 2022

In the midst of the controversial collapse and bankruptcy of FTX, news broke that an unknown actor had stolen 228,523 ETH from the exchange. The ownership of these coins, worth a whopping $268,057,479 USD at the time of publication, currently ranks the thief as one of the largest owners of ETH in the world.

Update: FTX Hacker is now actively dumping ETH on the chain

He has dumped about $15 million ETH in the last 30 minutes and just prepared another batch of $12 million

Still have $270M ETH in main wallet

He sells ETH to wBTC to renBTC through aggregators like 1inch https://t.co/mEd8UHFCO0

— kamikaz ΞTH (@kamikaz_ETH) 20 November 2022

Although initial reports suggested that all of the funds in question may be in the custody of securities regulators in the Bahamas, however, Chainalysis poured cold water on this theory, saying:

“Reports that the funds stolen from FTX were actually sent to the Securities Commission of the Bahamas are incorrect. Some funds were stolen and other funds were sent to regulators.”

At the time of publication, approximately 31,000 ETH had been converted to wrapped BTC. The thief then cross-chained the coins to a Bitcoin mainnet wallet using the Ren protocol, with the final amount received totaling 2,444.55 BTC.

LIVE: FTX Drainer (Aka Bahamas Gov?) Liquidates ETH

Addy #1 – 0x59
Addy #2 – 0x86

Float so far
– Move $ETH from #1 to #2
– Exchange $ETH to $pureBTC
– Send it to NULL Addy

Update
– Sold for 31k $ETH for 2.2k $pureBTC
– Sending everything $pureBTC to NULL address (ETH Genesis address)

1/n pic.twitter.com/WfkXGsUDRq

— Garlam (@GarlamWON) 20 November 2022

It has been a tough few weeks for those affected by the collapse of FTX and its affiliates. Earlier today, a press release indicated that FTX debtors are in talks with finserv firm Perella Weinberg Partners regarding various reorganization attempts. However, the commitment is subject to the probate court’s approval.

Meanwhile, company founder Sam Bankman-Fried reportedly remains “under surveillance” in the Bahamas, although some fear he may try to flee to Dubai if given the chance. It is unclear how this situation will ultimately play out, given that the UAE and the US have an agreement on evidence sharing, judicial cooperation and assistance in investigation and prosecution.