FTX investigates possible cyberattack that caused losses of $473 million

Cryptocurrency platform FTX, which filed for bankruptcy on Friday, is investigating whether crypto assets were stolen and has moved all of its digital assets offline, it reported Saturday. The assets could be worth more than $400 million, said cryptocurrency risk management firm Elliptic.

In a tweet earlier on Saturday, FTX General Counsel Ryne Miller said the company has “initiated precautionary measures” and moved all of its digital assets to cold storage, meaning the cryptocurrency wallet is no longer in storage. connected to the Internet. This follows the announcement on Friday that it has filed for bankruptcy.

Elliptic said that while the theft is unconfirmed, $473 million worth of cryptocurrency was apparently stolen from FTX.

The process was “accelerated” Friday night “to mitigate damage from observing unauthorized transactions,” Miller said in a tweet.

Miller tweeted on Friday that FTX is “investigating abnormalities” regarding wallet movements “related to the consolidation of FTX balances on exchanges.” The facts are still unclear and the company will share more information as soon as possible, he added.

Stablecoins and other missing tokens are rapidly being converted to ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin, on decentralized exchanges, Elliptic said. Elliptic said it is a common technique used by hackers to prevent their funds from being seized.

FTX, until last week one of the most powerful players in the cryptocurrency industry, is experiencing a rapid collapse. Its 30-year-old founder and CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, resigned and lost his $16 billion fortune in less than a week.

In its bankruptcy filing, FTX said it has between $10 billion and $50 billion in estimated liabilities and assets.

“I’m sorry, once again, that we ended up here,” Bankman-Fried wrote in a Twitter thread on Friday. “I hope things can find a way to bounce back.”