Conor Rogan, Director, Coinbase, has stated two mystery wallets withdrew $75+ million worth of stETH from FTX on 6/8/22. In a series of tweets, he claims to have found the two mystery wallets belonging to FTX’s SBF (Sam Bankman-Fried) and Alameda Research.
Sharing the breaking news, Conor Rogan tweeted:
On 6/8/22, 2 mystery wallets withdrew $75M+ of stETH from FTX
— Conor (@jconorgrogan) January 29, 2023
They then proceeded to market-sell everything, kicking off a "de-peg" event seen as one of the contributing factors to Celsius's bankrun and the demise of 3AC
We know today that SBF/Alameda was behind these sales pic.twitter.com/nRv9ev4VoM
He goes on to unravel that the two mystery wallets, after stETH withdrawal, went on to “market-sell” their cryptocurrency holdings. Their selling event, Rogan states, went on to spark a “de-peg” that contributed to the bank-run of Celsius and the downfall of 3AC (Three Arrows Capital).
He clarifies that in June, the stETH de-peg event injected much stress in the market, sparking Celsius liquidity issues rumors. Then, mere four days after the stETH sell-off by Alameda, Celsius announced it is halting withdrawals, adds Conor. While verifiable on-chain proof was missing, Alameda was suspected of being responsible for the June de-peg event.
Previously doxxed Alameda wallets then publicly withdrew liquidity and sent stETH to FTX—Hsaka Trades also have their suspicions, Rogan tweeted:
Alameda was suspected of playing a role in the June depeg but there wasn't much verifiable proof onchain.
— Conor (@jconorgrogan) January 29, 2023
Then, Alameda previously doxxed wallets publicly withdrew liquidity and sent stETH to FTX. Many sharp traders like @HsakaTrades had their suspicions pic.twitter.com/PkuRvXwPWu
While Nansen reported that these wallets worsened the de-peg, it couldn’t identify the wallets or gauge their intention. But Rogan says it is now “certain that Alameda/SBF owned them.” In January, these wallets, Rogan confirms, sent ETH and stETH to the FTX estate.
Rogan says, Alameda took 7 figures in slippage in the largest single swap of a crypto.
Among many other motives they might have had, best-price execution was certainly not one as Alameda, says Rogan, was “savvy enough to understand the slippage impact.”
Lastly, while Rogan states Alameda “could have processed this trade OTC on behalf of Celsius.”
He cautions it does not make sense as, A. stETH inflows into FTX were all Alameda that week. Celsius only deposited ~$5M of stETH into FTX AFTER the depeg. B. What kind of OTC slippage is that.
