Alameda Research withdrew more than $200 million from FTX.US before filing for bankruptcy, according to analysis by blockchain firm Arkham Intelligence published Nov. 25.
In a Twitter thread, Arkham revealed that Alameda Research, FTX’s sister company, withdrew $204 million from eight different FTX US addresses in a variety of crypto assets, the majority of them stablecoinsin the last days before the collapse.
Arkham analyzed FTX US flows in the final days before the collapse, finding that Alameda withdrew the most funds, at $204 million.
Below is a diagram of withdrawals to entities identified by Arkham from FTX US.
nb this thread is only for FTX US assets, not FTX International. pic.twitter.com/QFPVlVIWhO
—Arkham | Crypto Intelligence (@ArkhamIntel) November 25, 2022
Of the funds withdrawn, $116 million, or 57.1%, was in US dollar pegged stablecoins, including Tether (USDT), USD coin (USDC), Binance USD (BUSD) and TrueUSD (TUSD). Arkham’s analysis also showed that $49.49 million (24.2%) of the funds were in Ether (ETH), and $38.06 million, or 18.7%, was in Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC).
“The withdrawn wBTC was sent to the Alameda WBTC Merchant Wallet and then linked in its entirety to the BTC Blockchain,” Arkham said, adding that of the $204 million transferred, $142.4 million, or 69%, was been sent to wallets owned by FTX. International, “suggesting that Alameda may have operated to bridge the two entities”.
Of the transferred Ether, $35.52 million was sent to FTX and $13.87 million was sent to a large active trading wallet. The company noted that it is “unknown whether the nearly 14 million ETH was sent to 0xa20 as part of a transaction or as an internal funds transfer within Alameda.
Another $10.4 million was sent to rival cryptocurrency exchange Binance.
During the initial bankruptcy filing in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, new FTX CEO John Ray III described the situation as the worst he had seen in his corporate careerpointing out the “complete failure of corporate controls” and the absence of reliable financial information.
About 130 FTX Group companies – including FTX Trading, FTX US, under West Realm Shires Services, and Alameda Research – filed for bankruptcy in the United States on Nov. 11, following a “cash crunch” after a series of tweets triggered a selloff of FTX Token (FTT).