Arkham Intelligence has offered a reward of 100,000 Arkham (ARKM) tokens, equivalent to approximately $70,000, to anyone who can uncover the perpetrators behind the $415 million FTX hack.
The bounty was introduced on Arkham’s newly-launched “Intel Exchange” platform, which is intended to create a new way for people to share and trade blockchain-related intelligence, creating a new market and opportunity for on-chain researchers.
The platform, which went live on Monday, aims to engage crypto sleuths in investigating and identifying individuals or entities involved in major crypto thefts.
Arkham has already posted bounties for some major unsolved crypto heists, including the $160 million hack of trading firm Wintermute and the near $200 million exploit of Nomad’s token bridge.
https://twitter.com/DataaRocks/status/1681327849117216768?s=20
However, the platform’s most prominent payout centers on the $415 million stolen from FTX shortly after the company filed for bankruptcy.
With the reward size reflecting the magnitude of the theft, Arkham hopes to attract skilled investigators to crack the case.
Arkham has set a 30-day deadline for investigators to make headway in their pursuit of the hacker.
Arkham’s announcement released a few digital wallet addresses associated with the hack, providing starting points for investigators as they attempt to trace the steps of the yet-to-be-identified hacker.
FTX Hack Speculated to Be Insider Job
FTX, founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, encountered significant challenges leading to its downfall in November.
As the price of FTX’s native token FTT plummeted, the exchange experienced an overwhelming number of withdrawal requests, which eventually forced the platform to file for bankruptcy.
Shortly after filing for bankruptcy, several wallets belonging to FTX were emptied of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of coins.
At the time, it was speculated that the hacker behind the $415 million FTX hack was likely a company insider who used a mixture of different exchanges to consolidate the crypto tokens.
The platform confirmed the hack at the time, but did not reveal what issue led to the incident.
“FTX has been hacked. FTX apps are malware. Delete them. Chat is open. Don’t go on FTX site as it might download Trojans,” a note pinned to the company’s Telegram channel read.
FTX disclosed the loss of funds under its new management in January.
The company detailed that $323 million was taken from FTX’s international exchange, while $90 million was stolen from FTX US. Additionally, $2 million was pilfered from FTX’s sister company, Alameda Research.
Arkham Faces Backlash Over its Dox-to-Earn Program
Last week, Arkham unveiled the Arkham Intel Exchange, which it called the world’s first on-chain “intelligence marketplace.”
The marketplace is intended to meet the growing demand for on-chain analysis and create a decentralized intel-to-earn economy, allowing on-chain investigators to earn in exchange for their research.
However, the platform has faced backlash after it was revealed that the company had leaked its own customers’ private information.
The issue stems from Arkham’s weblink referral program, where users can invite others onto the platform by sharing their unique referral URL.
While these URLs appear to be a random sequence of characters, they are actually an easily decodable version of the user’s email address written in Base64.
This means that anyone who has shared their Arkham link may have unintentionally put their anonymity or, at the very least, their email address at risk.
Simple BASE64 decode
— m4gicpotato (@m4gicpotato) July 10, 2023
Arkham’s intelligence platform uses a bounty mechanism to do this. Users who need specific on-chain information can request by placing bounties.
These bounties will then be fulfilled by “bounty hunters,” experienced blockchain researchers who provide the requested intelligence in exchange for the payment.
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