FTX CEO John Ray Confirms Late-Night Hack, Says Company Is Working With Law Enforcement

Ray said FTX and FTX US are making “every effort to secure all assets, wherever located.”

Nov 12, 2022 at 7:04 p.m. UTC

Updated Nov 12, 2022 at 7:15 p.m. UTC

CDCROP: Crypto Exchange FTX Grapples With 'Liquidity Crunch' As Binance Deal Fades (Leon Neal/Getty Images) — FTX's new CEO confirmed that the exchange and its American subsidiary were hacked. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Cheyenne Ligon is a CoinDesk news reporter with a focus on crypto regulation and policy. She has no significant crypto holdings.

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Crypto exchange FTX’s new CEO, John Ray, took to Twitter Saturday to confirm that FTX, which filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday and its U.S. subsidiary, FTX US, were hacked last night in an attack that drained hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto out of the exchanges’ wallets.

In a statement issued via Ryne Miller, FTX’s general counsel, on Twitter, Ray said FTX US and FTX.com “continue to make every effort to secure all assets, wherever located.”

After the hack began around 10 p.m. EST on Friday night, wallets appearing to belong to FTX began moving assets, which Miller said was the exchange taking “precautionary steps…to mitigate damage upon observing unauthorized transactions.”

Ray confirmed Miller’s statement, adding that FTX is “in the process of removing trading and withdrawal functionality and moving as many digital assets as can be identified to a new cold wallet custodian.”

According to Ray, the company’s executives have been “in contact with, and are coordinating with law enforcement and relevant regulators” following the hack.

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