By Alicia Maher
The FTX crypto exchange has filed for bankruptcy as a result of the liquidity crisis that saw it collapse. The founder and CEO, SAM Bankman-Fried, has also resigned from his role in the company.
Getting Messier
But the worst had yet to come for the exchange till a few hours after. More than a billion US Dollars’ worth of assets has vanished from the crypto exchange’s wallets. There has been no explanation for the event as of the time of this report.
It created lots of confusion on Friday night and speculations began to fly around. There were suggestions that the wallets might have been drained by a liquidator or some regulator. But it was later confirmed on FTX’s telegram channel that the funds being stolen were really acts of a targeted hack.
The confirmed information was later pinned to the FTX telegram channel by Ryne Miller, the company’s lawyer. While it was also confirmed that the funds were sent into one wallet. The FTX.com site went offline shortly after that.
It was immediately revealed that both FTX, as well as FTX US, were equal victims of what seemed to have been caused by a Trojan horse. Users on the two exchanges began to report $0 balances on their various accounts.
Avoid Interacting with the Site
Reports later surfaced of users receiving text messages and emails from FTX asking them to log into the exchange’s website and application. The messages were embedded with the Trojan and it subsequently aided the hack.
While the hack and account siphoning continues, there are flying speculations as to what might be going on. And most especially, where the stolen funds might be going into. Social media quickly began to point fingers at an “inside job” and the accusation is gathering steam.
Some users are of the view that it does not take so much brainstorming to know the attack is connected to the out-gone CEO, SBF. He had taken to Twitter on Thursday to apologize to FTX users and explain the situation. Twitter detectives swung into action and gave various reasons why they thought it was a coordinated job from the inside.
New details are emerging continuously as the attack is still underway. But more than $1 billion has been stolen thus far. All users have been advised to delete the FTX apps to avoid visiting the app and website.