The United States Department of Justice has begun investigating the FTX breach.
Official Telegram administrators for the FTX exchange initially made the public aware of the hacking event in November, saying that someone had gained “unauthorised access.” According to on-chain statistics supplied by analytics company Chainalysis, the loss is projected to be around $370 million (and close to $400 million).
The FBI and the Department of Justice are now looking into the matter to determine who is to blame for the security lapse. It is different from the fraud prosecution against FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried, Bloomberg said, citing a person with knowledge of the situation. It is yet unknown if any suspects have been identified.
More than $300 million worth of ether was stored in the wallet address associated with the hacker, but once virtually all of it was auctioned off for bitcoin, it was lost forever.
The theft of $400 million worth of cryptocurrencies from the FTX exchange and its subsequent transfer to Bahamian authorities caused considerable uncertainty. The close proximity of the two occurrences led media outlets to incorrectly assume that the hack constituted an asset seizure. That was not true.
In reality, the Securities Commission of the Bahamas ordered FTX to transfer $400 million as part of a safeguarding process. While this did occur soon after the attack, it was unrelated.
John J. Ray III, the new chief executive officer of FTX, said that the breach and another substantial asset transfer mandated by Bahamian officials were distinct. This is confirmed by the analytics company Chainalysis.
“The $400 million that was hacked and stolen from FTX is wholly independent of the $400 million held by the Securities Commission of the Bahamas.” It’s quite reasonable that people were bewildered by this, though,” a Chainalysis representative told The Block.
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Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial or investment advice. Cryptocurrency investments are subject to market risks, and individuals should seek professional advice before making any investment decisions.
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