FTX-Exploiter Involvement in Ethereum Movements Raises Concerns
In a recent on-chain report on Saturday, September 30th, an address associated with the FTX exploiter became active again for the first time in 10 months. As previously reported, approximately 5,000 ETH (equivalent to $8.2 million USD) were transferred from the marked address (identified as 0x3e9) to new addresses on Saturday.
However, the latest development revealed by blockchain data tracker Spot On Chain indicates that the FTX exploiter has moved Ethereum tokens worth over $17 million USD in the last 24 hours.
FTX exploiter, already speculated to continue moving stolen funds
In one of the most significant exploits in the crypto space, the now-defunct FTX exchange fell prey to a hack just a few hours after declaring bankruptcy, resulting in a loss of over $600 million USD.
According to a disclosure on the chain, the exploiter has moved significant portions of their loot in the past 24 hours. The transferred funds amount to a total of 10,250 ETH (worth approximately $17.2 million USD) distributed among five addresses.
An analysis by Spot On Chain reveals that considerable sums of 7,749 ETH (equivalent to around $13 million USD) were transferred to the Thorchain router and the Railgun contract. These two decentralized finance protocols (DeFi) are known for their privacy-oriented features.
Within the past day, the FTX exploiter has conducted swap transactions with 2,500 ETH (worth around $4.19 million USD). These funds were converted into 153.4 tBTC (an ERC-20 token standard for Bitcoin) at an average price of $27,281 USD.
It is noteworthy that the address… pic.twitter.com/4Ykp0zih6G
Speculation suggests that the recent movement of funds by the attacker may have been triggered by the highly probable approval of Ethereum futures ETFs in the USA. However, there is no substantial evidence supporting these connections.
There have been speculations that the exploiter could be attempting to hedge their tokens should the ETH price recover after futures ETFs receive the green light.
In any case, the viewers, especially after Spot On’s revelation, are likely to keep an eye on the address, suggesting that the exploiter may continue to transfer ETH.
Ethereum price overview
The Ethereum price showed good strength at the end of September after facing mostly issues throughout the month. The cryptocurrency has had a positive start to October, approaching the psychological level of $1,700 USD with a 0.6% increase in the past day.
The value of ETH has risen nearly 6% in the past week, reflecting positive signs of recovery. According to CoinGecko data, the cryptocurrency has seen a decrease in daily trading volume of nearly 4%, indicating a recent decline in market activity.
Nevertheless, Ethereum remains the second-largest cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of over $200 billion USD.
Featured Image by iStock, Chart by TradingView
