CNBC: FTX’s service is being used to launder cryptocurrency stolen from FTX itself

After filing for bankruptcy, FTX’s new CEO John Ray III said “there was unauthorized access to a number of assets”. Hackers stole around $477 million in cryptocurrencies and converted them into bitcoins. According to CNBC, of ​​which, more than $280 million was exchanged into ether cryptocurrency.

Tom Robinson, co-founder of Elliptic, said hackers are converting ether into a crypto product called RenBTC, which is then converted into bitcoin via a bridge. This allows one cryptocurrency to be converted into another without going through a centralized exchange.

“This is a common tactic in laundering stolen cryptocurrency,” he added.

According to CNBC, to date, $74 million has been transferred to bitcoin from RenBTC through RenBridge.

Alameda Research, another company founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, acquired RenBridge in 2021 as part of FTX’s broader effort to create Solana and Serum.

Serum is a “decentralized exchange”, with the Serum token running on Solana. The created serum promises to increase settlement times and execute transactions faster. FTX and Alameda are the biggest backers of the project.

Hackers will probably want to convert this money into fiat currency. However, Mr. Robinson said this will be quite difficult due to the “traceability of cryptocurrencies” and that hackers will use “machines” mix to cover their blockchain footprint”.

Mixers are services or software that allow the trace of crypto-currency transactions to be obfuscated on the blockchain, making it difficult or impossible to track these funds.

According to court documents, FTX is currently saddled with a “mountain of debt” of up to $3.1 billion against the 50 largest creditors. In other words, the hacked funds represent about 15% of the money FTX is owed to its biggest creditors.

Reference: CNBC