Crypto market observers were on high alert as wallets connected to financially troubled cryptocurrency firms Alameda Research and FTX made substantial transfers, moving over $10 million worth of digital assets to exchange deposit accounts over the course of just five hours, from October 24 to 25. This significant movement of funds has raised speculation that both firms may be preparing to sell off assets in order to meet their financial obligations, including repaying creditors.
Data obtained from the blockchain analytics platform Spot On Chain reveals that an address, likely affiliated with FTX, initiated the transfer of 2,904 Ether, valued at over $5 million at the time, to another address at 8:18 pm UTC on October 24. Subsequently, this address divided the funds into two portions, sending $3.4 million to a Binance deposit address and $1.8 million to a Coinbase deposit address. Shortly after this transaction, a wallet linked to Alameda Research transferred $95 worth of tokens to the same address, including assets like LINK, MKR, and AAVE.
Over the following five hours, FTX and Alameda wallets continued to send additional digital assets to the same destination, including COMP and RNDR tokens. At approximately 2:00 am UTC on October 25, the receiving address forwarded approximately $2 million worth of LINK, $2 million worth of MKR, and $1 million worth of AAVE to a Binance deposit address. In total, the value of cryptocurrency sent to exchange deposit addresses during this short period amounted to $10,362,403, according to Spot On Chain data.
This movement of assets comes after a Delaware Bankruptcy Court gave its approval on September 13 for a plan to liquidate $3.4 billion worth of cryptocurrency assets held by FTX and Alameda Research. The decision had sparked concerns that such a substantial liquidation could adversely impact the crypto market. However, experts have contended that the planned, gradual liquidation is likely to mitigate any substantial market effects. Nonetheless, market participants will be closely monitoring the situation and its potential repercussions.
