Three misconceptions about the FTX hack exposed by an on-chain crypto detective

Key points: 

• The first misconception is that Bahamian officials were behind the hack. The second is that the exchange knows who the hacker is, and the third misconception is that the hacker is trading memecoins.
• The "0x59" wallet address associated with the hacker is a black hat address and has nothing to do with either the FTX team or SCB.
• According to ZachXBT, the wallet was selling Ethereum for renBTC and then using RenBridge. He believes the deal will likely send money to "a mixer at some point in the future."
• ZachXBT also addresses the issue of hacker identities.
• Blockchain investigators claim the transfers were “spoofed” on the Ethereum network.

The fiasco of FTX still haunts it. And, new developments seem to be making the whole thing even more confusing. No one expected FTX to drop, let alone get hacked after the drop, resulting in over $650 million being withdrawn. A series of stories followed the hack, some of which may or may not be true.

Onchain Detective "ZachXBT" himself shared some key points about the hack. In a lengthy Twitter thread, ZachXBT debunks what he believes are the three biggest misconceptions that need to be addressed.

What did many people do wrong in the FTX hack?

The first misconception is that Bahamian officials were behind the hack. The second is that the exchange knows who the hacker is, and the third misconception is that the hacker is trading memecoins.

While the culprit has yet to be formally identified, the Securities Commission of the Bahamas (SCB) said in a statement on Nov. 17 that it had ordered the transfer of all FTX digital assets to its digital wallets.

According to ZachXBT, the "0x59" wallet address associated with the hacker is a black hat address and has nothing to do with either the FTX team or SCB. This is because starting on November 12, the address began selling tokens in ETH, DAI, and BNB using various bridges to allow the cryptocurrency to unfreeze.

According to ZachXBT, the wallet was selling Ethereum for renBTC and then using RenBridge. He believes the deal will likely send money to " a mixer at some point in the future."

ZachXBT also addresses the issue of hacker identities. Kraken's chief security officer claims to have discovered the hacker's identity. According to Zach, the FTX group may only use Kraken to secure funds in multi-signature wallets on Tron because the FTX hot wallet ran out of gas needed for transactions.

ZachXBT slammed blockchain analytics firm CertiK for claims that FTX hackers were involved in memecoin transactions.

Instead, blockchain investigators claim the transfers were “spoofed” on the Ethereum network, citing a March blog post by Harith Kamarul of the Etherscan community that described how the transactions can be faked.