An obscure character believed to be an external hacker stole tokens from the exchange valued at roughly $372 million not long after FTX declared bankruptcy. The Commission judged that there was considerable danger of immediate dissipation with regard to the digital assets under the custody or control of [FTX] to the detriment of its customers and creditors in light of media allegations of a hack on FTX and potential theft of FTX-controlled wallets by former workers, the Commission stated in its media release.
According to the statement, assets will be retained until the Commission is instructed by the Bahamas Supreme Court to return them to the clients and creditors who possess them.
The $3.5 billion in tokens that were exchanged, according to the Commission, were no longer available to FTX founders Sam Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang.
The Commission reaffirmed in the media release that it did not give FTX-specific instructions to provide Bahamas-based clients' withdrawals top priority.