Whoever was responsible for the $600 million FTX cryptocurrency exchange hack started trading ether for Ren Bitcoin (renBTC).
Over the past week, FTX funds were gradually converted to ether, making the exploiter one of the token’s largest holders, as previously reported .The use of renBTC may surprise some in the crypto space: The trading arm owned by Sam Bankman-Fried and at the center of a multibillion-dollar scandal, Alameda Research, announced in 2021 that Ren’s development team was “joining” Alameda and would work on extending Ren’s usage to various blockchains.
According to blockchain data, the hacker transferred more than 5,000 ether to a new wallet at 7:27 UTC on Sunday. Then, 3 separate transactions totaling 35,000 more ether were made to that wallet.
The exploiter later started converting ether to renBTC using the decentralized exchange aggregator 1inch, according to on-chain analysis of the new wallet. In the first of these exchanges, 4,000 ether was first converted into wrapped bitcoin (wBTC), another token that serves as a representation of bitcoin, and then into renBTC.
Blockchain data reveals that the exploiter carried on converting ether to renBTC across a number of transactions. According to information cited by the security company PeckShield, the exploiter sent thousands of renBTC out via the Ren bridge. Bridges are technologies built on the blockchain that let users trade tokens between other networks. The Ren bridge has reportedly been used to launder stolen money to the tune of at least $540 million, according to a study by blockchain analysis company Elliptic, as it may give users privacy.
