30 cryptocurrency wallets linked to Alameda Research, FTX’s bankrupt sister company, were back online on December 28 after four weeks of inactivity. These wallets traded and mixed over $1.7 million worth of crypto assets through various cryptocurrency mixing services.
Hackers and criminals often use cryptocurrency mixers to hide the path of their transactions so that the funds cannot be traced back to the original source.
As Cointelegraph reported on Dec. 28, The sudden movement of funds from Alameda’s wallets just days after Sam Bankman Fried was released on bail raised suspicions throughout the crypto community. Almost 24 hours later, it appears that the culprit behind these funds transfers used extensive planning to hide the routes of the transactions.
According to the data shared by the cryptoforensic group Arkham, the first transfer of funds began with multiple Alameda addresses converting tokens for Ether (ETH)/Tether (USDT), sending them to cryptocurrency mixers. Most of these transfers were traced to two major wallets starting with 0xe5D and 0x971.
The Alameda wallet tokens were first sent to an address starting with 0x738, and then to an address 0x64e. This 0x64e wallet would then split the ETH and send it to smaller wallets, in sizes typically $200,000 and $50,000. The funds were then sent to mixers like Fixedfloat and ChangeNOW.
Another wallet was used to trade stablecoins, where assets were first converted to USDT and then sent to Fixedfloat. A total of 800,000 USDT was exchanged using mixers, while another 400,000 USDT was funneled through other methods. Another 200,000 USDT in stablecoins were sent to the Bitcoin network using renBTC.
In total, $1.7 million worth of funds were exchanged and sent through various mixing services, as follows:
- 270.5 ETH via ChangeNOW (~325k USD)
- 800,000 USDT via Fixedfloat
- 200,000 USDT via Curve SynthSwap to native Bitcoin (BTC)
- 200,000 USDT via Airswap
- 200,000 USDT via other cryptocurrency mixing services
The movement of funds from the Alameda portfolio funneled through mixing tools created quite a stir in the crypto community. Many question the timing of the funds transfers, while others point to the use of mixing services and the inability of the authorities to prevent such a thing despite the fact that the matter is under the supervision of a judge.
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