Key Takeaways
- The top three firms that withdrew the most funds from FTX US days before its collapse were Alameda, FTX exploiter with $49 million, and Amber Group with $40 million.
- Arkham discloses that of the $204 million transferred, $142.4 million was sent to wallets owned by FTX International.
Alameda Research pulled $204 million from FTX US before its collapse, as per Blockchain analytical firm Arkham Intelligence’s findings. In a Twitter thread, Arkham Intelligence disclosed that the top three firms that withdrew the most funds from FTX US days before its collapse were Alameda, FTX exploiter with $49 million, and at third position Amber Group with $40 million.
The firm revealed that Alameda Research, the venture-capital and trading firm affiliate of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, withdrew $204 million from eight different addresses of FTX US in various crypto assets, mainly stablecoins in the final days before the collapse.
“After November 6th, Alameda only withdrew USD-stable tokens, Wrapped BTC or Ether from FTX US. Of the $204M withdrawn: $38.06M was in BTC (18.7%)”, Arkham’s Twitter thread reads. Arkham notes that the withdrawn wBTC was sent to the Alameda WBTC Merchant wallet and later bridged to the BTC Blockchain.
In the Twitter thread, the firm discloses that of the $204 million transferred, $142.4 million was sent to wallets owned by FTX International, hinting that Alameda may have been operating as a bridge between FTX Int’l and U.S. Subsidiary.
According to the thread, 57.1% i.e., around $116 million of the withdrawn funds, were in USD stablecoins. The stablecoins were in BUSD, TUSD,USDT, and USDC. Most of the funds went to FTX, while $10.4 million was sent to rival crypto exchange Binance.
Earlier this month, The FTX and 130 other affiliated companies, including FTX.com, FTX US, and Alameda Research, filed for Chapter 11 proceedings in the U.S. As per the bankruptcy filing, FTX and a number of its affiliates had a combined cash balance of $1.24 billion.
The filing also disclosed that Alameda Research made $4.1 billion in loans to related parties, including $1 billion to former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. Among those, $1 billion was given to SBF, $55 million to FTX Digital Markets head Ryan Salame, and $543 million to FTX Director of Engineering Nishad Singh. There was also a $2.3 billion loan between FTX legal subsidiaries Paper Bird Inc. and Euclid Way Ltd.
