Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken freezes the accounts of FTX, Alameda Research and their executives

Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has frozen a handful of accounts belonging to bankrupt FTX Group, Alameda Research, and their executives. Kraken was in contact with law enforcement after discovering that an account on its platform had been used in connection with unauthorized transfers at FTX.

Kraken freezes accounts belonging to FTX, Alameda Research and their executives.

Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has taken action to freeze verified accounts on its platform owned by FTX Group, Alameda Research and their executives. The official Kraken Twitter account tweeted early Sunday morning:

Kraken spoke with law enforcement about a handful of accounts belonging to FTX Group, Alameda Research and their executives, all of which are bankrupt. These accounts have been frozen to protect their creditors.

Kraken pointed out: “Other Kraken clients are unaffected. Kraken maintains full reserves.”

FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Friday. John Ray has been named the new managing director of FTX Group following the departure of Sam Bankman-Fried.

Suspected FTX Hacker Uses Kraken

After FTX filed for bankruptcy, Twitter users noticed that the exchange’s wallets were empty. Ray, the new CEO and Head of Restructuring of FTX, later confirmed the unauthorized transfers.

Twitter users also noticed that funds had been transferred from Kraken to a wallet used to hold some of the stolen tokens. Hours later, Nick Percoco, Kraken’s head of security, tweeted: “We know the identity of this account“. However, he noted that he could not reveal the user’s identity publicly on social media.

Ryne Miller, general counsel for FTX, explained on Saturday: “After the bankruptcy filing – FTX US and FTX.com took precautionary measures to move all digital assets to cold storage. The process was sped up tonight – to mitigate the damage when observing unauthorized transactions.”

Ryne Miller then quoted the new CEO of FTX as saying:

As has been widely reported, unauthorized access to certain assets has occurred… We have been in contact with, and are coordinating with relevant law enforcement and regulators.