Crypto wallets associated with bankrupt trading firm Alameda Research have become active in the last 24 hours, swapping ETH-related tokens for USDT and Ethereum, according to blockchain security firm Peckshield.
According to available information, the wallet has funneled the converted funds through mixers and instant exchangers.
A data Journalist with Nansen Martin Lee reported similar findings. He said:
“Lots of activity going on among Alameda wallets in the past 6-7 hours. Various tokens on ETH being consolidated into 2 main wallets.”
Lookonchain reported that several addresses related to Alameda were selling the ERC20 tokens. The investigator noted that Alameda sold 719,498 Lido (LDO) tokens for 601 ETH at an average selling price of $0.9972. Also, an address starting with 0x64e9 received 411 ETH and $1 million USDT from Alameda-related addresses.
On-chain sleuth ZachXBT also highlighted that the wallets swapped some funds for Bitcoin (BTC). He added that it is unlikely for liquidators to use ChangeNow and FixedFloat. These decentralized exchanges are primarily used by hackers who want to hide their chain of transactions.
Community speculations grow
The crypto community has drawn lots of speculations concerning the flurry of transfers.
Some opined that the activities were an inside job, with many trying to tie it to the disgraced founder of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried.
Leigh Drogen speculated that SBF might be planning to use all these stolen funds as a bargaining chip to get a more lenient judgment from the prosecutor.
The crypto community has extensively criticized SBF’s bail conditions, including the fact that it did not bar him from computer and internet access. Recent pictures of SBF taken at the John F Kennedy airport showed him using a laptop while a phone was beside him.
