FTX has filed for bankruptcy protection after abnormal transactions caused hundreds of millions of dollars worth of crypto assets to be withdrawn.
This is the latest blow for FTX, which has been marred by controversy in recent months.
On Saturday, the official Twitter account of FTX retweeted comments from Ryne Miller, the company’s general counsel in the US, in which he said it was “investigating abnormalities with wallet movements related to consolidation of FTX balances across exchanges”. Outflows were estimated to be at least $266mn over the past 24 hours
FTX has been embroiled in controversy in recent months, with some calling into question the exchange’s business practices. In May, FTX was accused of market manipulation after it was revealed that the exchange had been offering “margin trading” to its users.
Margin trading allows users to trade with borrowed funds, and it can be used to artificially inflate prices.
Then, in June, FTX was again accused of market manipulation after it was revealed that the exchange had been offering ” futures contracts” to its users. Futures contracts are agreements to buy or sell an asset at a future date, and they can be used to speculate on the price of an asset.
Now, the potential hack is the latest blow for FTX. The exchange has lost hundreds of millions of dollars worth of assets, and it is currently under investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It remains to be seen how this will all impact the future of FTX.
