On-chain data shows that Alameda Research wallets are active again, swapping several altcoins for Bitcoin and Ethereum.
On Wednesday, blockchain researchers highlighted a series of highly suspicious transactions from Ethereum wallet addresses tied to the insolvent trading firm Alameda Research.
Alameda ETH addresses are digging around in the sofa for spare change and swapping bits ERC20s for ETH/USDT.
ETH and USDT then funneled through instant exchangers.
Rings some major alarm bells…https://t.co/GRVtChDL9rhttps://t.co/LJBi7cuFZLhttps://t.co/nxcXWgm5VO pic.twitter.com/AqcgxVRoMr
— 🏴∴boxes full of pepe∴🏴 (@ErgoBTC) December 28, 2022
The wallet addresses were observed swapping altcoins for BTC, ETH and USDT and un-staking assets to claim rewards.
“Interestingly, the majority of assets swaps are through Metamask’s in house swap feature,” wrote on-chain analyst “R-GMI” on Twitter.
These ETH and USDT were then sent through FixedFloat and ChangeNOW, two privacy focused decentralized exchanges that function as crypto mixers. Blockchain analyst ZachXBT found that these funds were eventually swapped for BTC.
A comprehensive analysis from analytics firm Arkham Intelligence revealed that more than $1 million was moved through coin mixers by the Alameda wallets over a 24-hour period. The firm also noted that the wallets resurfaced after four weeks of no activity whatsoever.
“If this was a rogue employee or some kind of breach, it was rather extensive. Arkham can count at least 30 known Alameda addresses that were active sending funds in the past 24 hours. Directly sending funds to mixing services is never a good sign,” tweeted Arkham.
The timing of these transfers raised suspicions among the crypto community, particularly given the fact that Sam Bankman-Fried has been granted bail and is currently under house arrest, with no restrictions on internet usage.
https://twitter.com/alkwater9ph/status/1607922033945415680
