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The hacker behind the exploit on the FTX exchange has been exchanging millions of dollars worth of ETH to Ren Bitcoin (renBTC). renBTC is a token representing Bitcoin on the other blockchain. The hacker started this activity on early Sunday.
FTX hacker starts moving Ethereum
Shortly after the FTX exchange filed for bankruptcy, a massive hack was reported on the platform, which prompted the exchange to move all the remaining funds to cold storage. The exploiter has now started moving the stolen coins.
The hacker has been steadily converting the funds stolen from the FTX exchange into Ether during the past week. This makes the exploiter behind the attack one of the largest holders of the Ethereum token.
It is peculiar that the hacker is converting the stolen coins into renBTC. In 2021, Alameda Research, a sister company of FTX that Sam Bankman-Fried also founded, said that the team behind Ren would be part of Alameda. At the time, Alameda also said that it would assist in expanding the usage of Ren to multiple blockchains.
On Sunday, the FTX hacker transferred more than 5000 ETH to a new wallet address, as shown by Blockchain data. Moreover, another 35,000 ETH was moved to this wallet in three different transactions.
On-chain data on this new wallet also shows that the hacker behind the exploit started converting ETH to renBTC. The hacker swapped the tokens using 1inch, a decentralized exchange aggregator.
The initial transactions saw 4000 ETH being converted into wrapped Bitcoin. wBTC is also a version of Bitcoin. These tokens were later converted to renBTC. The exploiter started converting ETH to renBTC in several transactions as per data on the blockchain.
The PeckShield cybersecurity firm says that the exploiter transferred thousands of renBTC using the Ren bridge. Blockchain bridges are usually blockchain-based tools where users exchange tokens between different networks.
A study by Elliptic, a blockchain analysis company, said that the Ren bridge was previously used to launder stolen crypto assets. It is believed that the bridge has facilitated money laundering transactions of more than $540 million. The bridge has become increasingly popular because it privatizes user information.
Bahamas securities regulator ordered FTX to transfer crypto
On Thursday last week, the Securities Commission of the Bahamas announced it had ordered FTX to transfer the assets in its crypto wallets to a wallet address controlled by the government.
“Urgent interim regulatory action was necessary to protect the interests of clients and creditors of FDM,” the commission said. The commission issued this statement refuting earlier claims that it was involved in the hack against the exchange.
The Bahamas regulators have also said that FTX Digital would be liquidated in the Bahamas and would not be part of the US bankruptcy proceedings involving FTX Trading and more than 100 of its affiliated companies. The former CEO of FTX, Bankman-Fried, has said that he regrets filing for bankruptcy, arguing that he would have already found a way to protect customers.
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- Getting money out of FTX could take years, if not decades
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