Alameda Research wallets swap several crypto tokens for bitcoin

Ethereum wallet addresses associated with collapsed trading firm Alameda Research traded several crypto tokens for ether and USDT on Wednesday morning before swapping for bitcoin, according to on-chain data.

Etherscan transaction data show these Alameda-linked wallets sold Lido, Polygon, Uniswap and other tokens for ether and USDT before bridging to the Bitcoin network.

Crypto sleuth ZachXBT identified four bitcoin wallets where the funds are being consolidated. Data from Blockchair shows these wallets hold a combined total of 47.6 BTC, which is currently worth about $800,000.

These fund movements come within days of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s release on bail. As previously reported by The Block, Bankman-Fried secured a $250 million bail bond package.

The pattern of these fund movements has drawn speculation from the crypto community. The entity controlling the wallets has used mixers like ChangeNow and FixedFloat to move the funds. Crypto mixing services are used to obfuscate the flow of cryptocurrencies by making it difficult to identify the owners of the tokens and the origins of the funds being transferred. They do so by mixing different transfer inputs and outputs.

This is also not the first mysterious fund transfer from FTX and Alameda since the saga began. Tokens worth $352 million were mysteriously removed from FTX coffers right after the exchange filed for bankruptcy in November. This alleged hack is currently the subject of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation.