Alameda wallets sell multiple tokens for Bitcoin

• Alameda Research addresses sent millions worth of tokens to decentralised exchanges and crypto mixers on Wednesday.
• According to on-chain data, the tokens were swapped into USDT before being converted into Bitcoin.
• The Alameda wallets sprung into life a few days after FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried was released on a $250 million bail.

Crypto wallets linked to Alameda Research, the quant trading arm of collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, were massively active on Wednesday, on-chain data shows.

The Alameda addresses, as data shared online showed, actively sold several small cap cryptocurrencies, swapping these for Bitcoin and in some cases Ethereum.

Alameda sells millions worth of tokens

According to details shared on Twitter by Martin Lee, a data journalist at blockchain analytics platform Nansen, there were multiple odd transactions that seemed to swap tokens in Alameda wallets for Ethereum and Tether stablecoin USDT.

The funds were then sent to new wallets via decentralised exchanges (DEXs), including ChangeNow and FixedFloat.

Elsewhere, on-chain data shared by blockchain research firm Arkham Intelligence pointed to Alameda wallets offloading over $1.7 million in various tokens.

In total, Alameda-related wallets have mixed:

270.5Eth through ChangeNOW (~$325k)
800k USDT through Fixedfloat
200k through Curve SynthSwap (to native BTC)
200k through Airswap
200k through other crypto-mixing services

reaching a total of $1.7M that has been taken.

— Arkham | Crypto Intelligence (@ArkhamIntel) December 28, 2022

According to the platform, the sales happened on the open market – a scenario that likely was behind the sharp drop in prices for several tokens. The Ethereum-based cryptocurrencies the wallets sold include Ether (ETH), Curve (CRV), USD Coin (USDC), Dai (DAI), and convex (CVX).

The tokens were sent to two wallets, swapped for USDT and then converted into BTC, blockchain sleuth ZachXBT tweeted on Wednesday.

The Alameda wallets came alive after weeks of dormancy, with these transactions intensifying as former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried settled at home following released from jail on a $250 million bail. The sale of multiple tokens also coincided with a sharp price decline for Solana (SOL).