A hacker who breached the defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX in November 2022 has been converting millions of dollars worth of stolen Ethereum (ETH) to Bitcoin (BTC) in the past week. The hacker has moved over $100 million of ETH to BTC through various bridge protocols, such as THORChain and Railgun, according to Spot On Chain’s data.

FTX’s Hacker Remains Active

The hacker’s activity coincides with the start of the court trial of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), who is accused of fraud and embezzlement by the U.S. Department of Justice.

SBF left the company shortly before it declared bankruptcy and its accounts were emptied by the hacker. Some speculate that there may be an insider connection between SBF and the hacker.

The hacker initially stole over $600 million in ETH from FTX and FTX US, two platforms that offered crypto derivatives trading. Since then, the hacker has been mostly dormant until Sept. 30, when they began converting their ETH to BTC in small batches. 

The conversion amounts gradually increased over time, reaching up to 9,375 ETH per transaction on Oct. 4. The hacker still holds $208.481 million in various cryptocurrencies, mostly in ETH, in an address linked to the breach. 

The exploiter started off with relatively modest transaction amounts on the first day, with values ranging between 1,250 and 2,500 ETH. However, the activity escalated on Oct. 2, when a single transaction of 4,500 ETH was executed. Subsequent transactions saw an increase in volume, most of them amounting to 7,500 ETH each.

Before the transactions on Oct. 4, the exploiter had already moved a total of 30,000 ETH on Oct. 2 and 3. This was done in four separate transactions, each consisting of 7,500 ETH. These tokens were then converted into BTC using the THORChain and Railgun protocols.

The identity and motive of the hacker remain unknown. The FTX creditors hope to recover some of their losses from the ongoing legal proceedings against SBF and his associates.

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Filed under: News - @ October 5, 2023 10:25 am