Arkham Intelligence sets $46,000 bounty for last year's FTX exploiter

The blockchain data firm Arkham Intelligence has posted a bounty on its data sharing platform Intel Exchange requesting information on the FTX exploiter of 2022. 

A user must not only identify the entity behind the exploit, but also provide enough research and cited sources to support evidence that the entity perpetrated the hack. Arkham will reward the winning bounty submission with 100,000 ARKM, worth around $46,000. Bounty hunters have until August 17 to file their submissions. 

The bounty is a part of Arkham Intelligence's controversial platform Intel Exchange. Arkham CEO Miguel Morel says the platform will incentivize on-chain sleuthing to thwart bad actors in the crypto space, but others have argued that it could urge the release of personal information, pinpoint the wrong culprit and other negative outcomes. 

The hack

On Nov. 11, 2022, an unknown entity stole around $400 million worth of crypto assets from the Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto exchange FTX — on the same day the firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. 

"This was the 2nd largest exploit of 2022 and the hacker has yet to be identified," Arkham wrote on Twitter. "On the night of the hack, communications from FTX were limited. ... Later, FTX CEO John Ray III confirmed that FTX had lost funds in 'unauthorized transactions' via the Twitter account of General Council Ryne Miller. That tweet has since been deleted."