FTX Hacked For $600M in User Funds, Tether Blacklists USDT Linked To Incident

Chain Debrief
November 12, 2022
10 mins read

IF YOU STILL HAVE THE FTX APPLICATION, IT IS HIGHLY ADVISED TO DELETE IT, AND TO NOT USE THE BROWSER UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

Over $600 Million in user funds were transferred out of FTX’s company wallets, with no explanation.

Some users report seeing 0 balances on their FTX account.

Hundreds of millions of dollars are now flowing out of FTX wallets, some speculate liquidators but it's late on a friday night, not typical times for such rapid heavy movements. Some withdrawals are being swapped from Tether to DAI. Hack or insider actions? $26 million here pic.twitter.com/8wWlaE7na9
— foobar (@0xfoobar) November 12, 2022

FTX admins in their official Telegram channels have since pinned messages to inform users that both the site and application has been hacked.

BREAKING: FTX_Official & FTX US’s wallets appear to be hacked, with over $600 million leaving the exchange, per CoinDesk.

FTX has stated in its official Telegram channel that it had been hacked, instructing users not to install any new upgrades & to delete all FTX apps.
— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) November 12, 2022

“FTX has been hacked. FTX apps are malware. Delete them. Chat is open. Don’t go on FTX site as it might download Trojans” was pinned by FTX General Counsel Ryne Miller in the official FTX Support Telegram Chat.

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PSA:

The FTX hacker has finished dumping LINK/MATIC/AAVE and SHIB onchain.

Apart from ETH and DAI, the only altcoins left are PAXG and SNX, which will presumably be sold off soon. pic.twitter.com/uHXXe22Llj
— Arkham | Crypto Intelligence (@ArkhamIntel) November 12, 2022

My guess is it's Gary Wang the CTO of #ftx running away with the funds

Why? Bc he has the technical knowledge to 1) zero out people's balances 2) push app update 3) access to private keys 4) shut down ftx API and website

Only other person would possibly be SBF himself. pic.twitter.com/zZULXEL9Fa
— shiggidy 🐧 (@shiggidy) November 12, 2022

Update: $31.4m USDT blacklisted by Tether https://t.co/Zkuy47E9wM
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) November 12, 2022

Rumors have begun to circulate that the funds could have been siphoned by an insider. While these allegations have not been confirmed, some of the $USDT has been blacklisted by Tether.

Following the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings – FTX US and FTX [dot] com initiated precautionary steps to move all digital assets to cold storage. Process was expedited this evening – to mitigate damage upon observing unauthorized transactions.
— Ryne Miller (@_Ryne_Miller) November 12, 2022

Since the malicious transactions, FTX has begun to move all digital asset to cold storage. However, with more than $600 million in user funds gone, the size of FTX’s hole seems to continuously grow wider.

Also Read: Do Kwon, Martin Shkreli Give FTX Crisis Management Tips

[Editor’s Note: This article does not represent financial advice. Please do your research before investing.]

Featured Image Credit: Chaindebrief