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FTX’s $400m hacking case may have been solved

FTX’s $400m hacking case may have been solved
Snapshot
The case of $400 million hacked crypto may have been solved as three people are charged. Credit: Sergei Elagin
By
Mike Millard
  • Trio charged in $400 million hack of collapsed exchange FTX.
  • Ionic Digital acquires mining assets of bankrupt lender Celsius.
  • US to survey electricity consumption of crypto mining companies.

Three charged in $400 million hack of collapsed FTX

Amid the collapse of crypto exchange FTX in November 2022, hours after filing for bankruptcy and the resignation of founder Sam Bankman-Fried, the firm was mysteriously hacked for more than $400 million.

Bankman-Fried, who is in jail awaiting sentencing after being convicted of fraud, said at the time that the hack may have been an inside job.

That case seems to have been solved, according to a report from Bloomberg, and the alleged culprits were not FTX insiders, but participants in a phone-hacking ring attracted by the firm’s lack of security.

Robert Powell, Emily Hernandez, and Carter Rohn were charged by the US Department of Justice with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and identity theft while taking 50 victims for hundreds of millions of dollars.

The indictment does not specifically identify FTX, but two people familiar with the case confirmed to Bloomberg that the bankrupt exchange was “victim company-1″ in the filing.

Bitcoin miner Ionic Digital acquires Celsius mining assets

Newly established Bitcoin miner Ionic Digital is acquiring the mining assets of collapsed lender Celsius Network, it said in a statement.

Ionic Digital is owned by creditors of Celsius, which recently emerged from bankruptcy, and the miner is expected to go public after the necessary approvals are secured.

Ionic is acquiring 127,000 bitcoin mining machines and infrastructure for 87 MW of self-mining capacity across four existing facilities; 142 MW of capacity for hosted bitcoin mining at third-party sites; and the Cedarvale site, in development to reach a capacity of 240 MW.

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With its fleet in full operation, it is expected to achieve a hash rate of 12.7 exahash per second (EH/s), becoming one of the biggest companies in North America securing the Bitcoin network, it said.

Ionic Digital’s mining sites will be located mostly in Texas, taking advantage of the state’s favourable regulatory climate and energy market.

Crypto mining companies’ use of electricity to be surveyed

The Energy Information Administration will next week begin a provisional survey of electricity consumption information from crypto mining companies operating in the US, it said in a statement.

The EIA will survey commercial crypto miners, which will be required to share details of their energy use. The Office of Management and Budget approved the survey on January 26 as a request for emergency data collection.

The EIA will also solicit public comment on the collection of crypto miners’ energy use data.

“We intend to continue to analyse and write about the energy implications of cryptocurrency mining activities in the United States,” said EIA Administrator Joe DeCarolis. “We will specifically focus on how the energy demand for cryptocurrency mining is evolving, identify geographic areas of high growth, and quantify the sources of electricity used to meet cryptocurrency mining demand.”

Crypto market movers

  • Bitcoin is down 0.27% today at $43,065.10.
  • Ethereum is up 0.16% today at $2,311.82.

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