(New York) The FTX cryptocurrency exchange platform has been the victim of “unauthorized” transactions, one of its managers said on Saturday, the day after this major player in the sector was placed in bankruptcy and its founder Sam Bankman-Fried.
“Unauthorized transactions” were observed, Ryne Miller, FTX’s chief legal officer, said Saturday morning on Twitter.
FTX, after declaring itself bankrupt on Friday, “took precautionary steps to move all digital assets to cold storage,” i.e. a wallet for storing cryptocurrency online, a- he indicated.
“The process was expedited (Friday) night – to mitigate damage when observing unauthorized transactions,” the official clarified.
Ryne Miller had, late Friday evening, reported an “investigation into anomalies with portfolio movements related to the consolidation of fx balances between exchanges”, and had referred to “unclear facts because other movements are not clear”.
FTX, considered until 10 days ago as the second largest cryptocurrency platform in the world and valued at some $32 billion, suffered a lightning rout.
The company, in turmoil for a week, was on Friday voluntarily placed under the protection of Chapter 11 of the US bankruptcy law. Its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, 30, a hitherto multi-billionaire, resigned and was replaced by John J. Ray III.
The discomfiture came to light when press reports revealed that his Alameda Research fund was investing in cryptoassets issued by FTX.com in a risky financial arrangement that risks revealing major conflicts of interest.
FTX’s troubles have also been accentuated by the number one in the sector, Binance, which announced that it was selling a cryptocurrency linked to the FTX group on Sunday, then offered to buy FTX.com on Tuesday before retracting on Wednesday.
The group is under investigation by the Securities Exchange Commission and the Justice Department in New York, according to the New York Times citing sources familiar with the investigation.
And the fall from favor extended to the NBA, with the Miami Heat announcing that their stadium, the FTX Arena, would be renamed.
