AFP extension
ANNOUNCEMENTS•
At least $1 billion in cryptocurrencies have disappeared from cryptocurrency exchange FTX, sources tell Reuters news agency. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried transferred $10 billion in client money from the platform to his investment firm Alameda, 10% of which is said to have disappeared.
It is unclear whether the money was stolen, by Bankman-Fried or others. FTX itself reports in a message on Twitter that “unauthorized transactions” have been detected. Analysts also say that many hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrencies have been withdrawn from the platform.
A company consultant says that’s why all of FTX’s digital assets are moved to storage locations that aren’t connected to the Internet, “to limit the damage.”
The US cryptocurrency platform, a big name in cryptocurrency trading, ran into serious financial troubles this week and filed for bankruptcy in the US yesterday. Bankman-Fried had to step down as CEO immediately.
His empire was shaken by the fall in value of FTX’s currency, the FTT. Investors withdrew around $6 billion worth of cryptocurrencies from the platform within 72 hours. The cryptocurrency exchange therefore faced severe liquidity problems. For a while, it looked like competitor Binance would bail out the company with an acquisition, but Binance decided against it.
All kinds of other cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, have also fallen sharply in value due to the FTX mess.
Argentina
Earlier today there were rumors that Bankman-Fried would fly to Argentina. He tells Reuters that is not true and that he is in the Bahamas. FTX’s headquarters are located there.
It was previously announced that the US stock market watchdog SEC has been investigating FTX’s situation for months.
