FTX Exploiter Executes Ongoing Funds Exodus, Moves $17 Million In ETH In One Day

According to an on-chain report on Saturday, September 30, an address associated with the FTX exploiter became active for the first time in 10 months. As earlier reported, some 5,000 ETH (equivalent to $8.2 million) was transferred from the flagged address (identified as 0x3e9) to new addresses on Saturday.

However, in the latest development, blockchain data tracker Spot On Chain revealed that the FTX exploiter has moved more than $17 million worth of Ether tokens in the past 24 hours.

FTX Exploiter To Keep Moving Stolen Funds, Spot On Chain Speculates

In one of the most significant exploits in the crypto space, the now-defunct FTX exchange fell victim to a hack a few hours after declaring bankruptcy, leading to a loss of more than $600 million. 

According to an on-chain revelation, the exploiter has been moving huge chunks of their loot in the past 24 hours. The transferred funds have reached a total of 10,250 ETH (worth roughly $17.2 million), spread across five addresses.

A breakdown by Spot On Chain shows that a significant 7,749 ETH (equivalent to about $13 million) was moved to the Thorchain router and Railgun contract. These two decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols are renowned for their privacy-focused features.

Within the past day, the FTX exploiter has executed swap transactions involving 2,500 ETH (worth approximately $4.19 million). These funds were converted to 153.4 tBTC (an ERC-20 token standard for Bitcoin) at an average price of $27,281.

🚨 FTX Exploiter 0x3e9 has transferred out a total of 10,250 $ETH ($17.1M) via 5 addresses over the past 24 hours:

– sent 7,749 $ETH ($13M) to the Thorchain router and Railgun contract

– swapped 2,500 $ETH ($4.19M) to 153.4 $tBTC at $27,281 on avg

Notably, the address has been… https://t.co/xzmDz8Vmma pic.twitter.com/4Ykp0zih6G

— Spot On Chain (@spotonchain) October 1, 2023

The recent movement of funds by the attacker is believed to be triggered by the highly likely approval of Ether futures ETFs in the US. However, there has been no substantial evidence to back up these connections.

There have been speculations that the exploiter might be looking to dump their tokens should the ETH price rally after futures ETFs are greenlighted. 

In any case, spectators will probably keep an eye on the address’ activity, especially after Spot On Chain suggested the exploiter may keep transferring ETH.

Ethereum Price Overview

The Ethereum price showed good strength to end September after largely struggling throughout the month. The cryptocurrency has made a positive start to October, approaching the psychological $1,700 level with a 0.6% rise in the past day.

The value of ETH has jumped by nearly 6% in the past week, reflecting positive signs of recovery. According to data from CoinGecko, the cryptocurrency has experienced a nearly 4% decline in daily trading volume, representing a recent fall in market activity.

Nevertheless, Ethereum remains the second-largest cryptocurrency, with a market cap exceeding $200 billion.

ETHUSDT approaching $1,700 mark on the daily timeframe | Source: ETHUSDT chart on TradingView

Featured image from iStock, chart from TradingView