Crypto sleuth debunks 3 biggest misconceptions about the FTX hack

On-chain sleuth ZachXBT has shared his findings on what he sees because the three most typical misconceptions concerning the FTX hack — taking to Twitter to appropriate a “ton of misinformation” concerning the occasion and the doable culprits. 

In a prolonged Nov. 20 post on Twitter, the self-proclaimed “on-chain sleuth” debunked hypothesis that Bahamian officers had been behind the FTX hack, that exchanges knew the hacker’s true identification, and that the wrongdoer is buying and selling memecoins.

1/ I’ve seen a ton of misinformation being unfold on Twitter and within the information concerning the FTX occasion so let me debunk the three most typical issues I’ve seen

“Bahamian officers are behind the FTX hack”
“Exchanges know who the hacker is”
“FTX hacker is buying and selling meme cash” pic.twitter.com/IAtHnpJI44

— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) November 20, 2022

On the identical day that FTX filed for chapter on Nov. 11, the crypto group started flagging suspicious transactions on wallets related to FTX, with greater than $650 million transferred off the pockets. 

Whereas there was no official wrongdoer has been recognized, a Nov. 17 assertion from the Securities Fee of the Bahamas (SCB) that acknowledged it had ordered the switch of all digital property of FTX to a digital wallet owned by the fee round that point prompted some to consider the SCB was behind the supposed “hack.” 

Nonetheless, ZachXBT argued that the “0x59” pockets tackle related to the hacker was a blackhat tackle and never affiliated with both the FTX crew or the SCB as a result of it “started promoting tokens for ETH, DAI, and BNB and utilizing quite a lot of bridges so crypto could not be frozen on 11/12.”

“The very fact 0x59 was dumping tokens and bridging sporadically was very totally different habits from the opposite addresses who withdrew from FTX and as a substitute despatched to a multisig on chains like Eth or Tron,” he added.

Zach additionally notes that the blackhat pockets additionally had contact with one other pockets, 0x24, which he suggests “has very [suspicious] habits on-chain utilizing sketchy companies.”

“This habits utterly differs what was mentioned concerning the Debtors transferring property to chilly storage or Bahamian authorities transferring property to Fireblocks.”

ZachXBT says his closing clue was the pockets tackle promoting Ether (ETH) for renBTC and then using RenBridge, which he says will most definitely finish with the funds being despatched to “a mixer in some unspecified time in the future sooner or later.”

Blockchain analytics agency Chainalysis got here to an identical conclusion in a Nov. 20 post, noting that:

“Studies that the funds stolen from FTX had been truly despatched to the Securities Fee of The Bahamas are incorrect. Some funds had been stolen, and different funds had been despatched to the regulators.”

FTX has additionally commented on the latest fund actions, posting a warning to exchanges “that sure funds transferred from FTX World and associated debtors with out authorization on 11/11/22 are being transferred to them via intermediate wallets.”

(2/2) Exchanges ought to take all measures to safe these funds to be returned to the chapter property.

— FTX (@FTX_Official) November 20, 2022

ZachXBT additionally highlighted the potential misinformation surrounding the declare the hacker’s identification had been found by “Kraken or different exchanges.”

The rumor had been circulating since Kraken’s chief safety officer claimed in a Nov.12 post that“We all know the identification of the consumer.”

Zach says “In actuality” the consumer recognized because the hacker was seemingly simply the FTX group securing property to a multi-signature pockets on Tron, utilizing Kraken as a result of FTX sizzling pockets being out of gasoline for transactions., stating: 

“The withdrawals to those multisigs additionally matched what Ryne Miller (FTX GC) had mentioned on the time. This came about hours after the preliminary 0x59 withdrawals.”

Associated: FTX funds on the move as thief converts thousands of ETH into Bitcoin

As his final level, ZachXBT took purpose on the rumor that the FTX hacker is trading memecoins, which was first noted by blockchain analytics agency CertiK.

As an alternative, the blockchain detective claims the transfers have been “spoofed” on the Ethereum community, citing a March blog by Etherscan group member, Harith Kamarul explaining how transactions could be faked.