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Alameda Research withdrew over $200 million from FTX.US before it filed for bankruptcy, according to analysis from blockchain firm Arkham Intelligence disclosed on Nov. 25. 

In a Twitter thread, Arkham revealed that Alameda Research, FTX's sister company, pulled $204 million from eight different addresses of FTX US in a variety of crypto assets, the majority of them stablecoins, in the final days before the collapse.

Among the withdrawn funds, $116 million, or 57.1%, were in stablecoins pegged to the US dollar, including USDT, USDC, BUSD, and TUSD. Arkham's analysis also showed that $49.49 million (24.2%) of the funds was in Ether (ETH), and $38.06 million, or 18.7%, was in wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC). 

"The withdrawn wBTC was sent to the Alameda WBTC Merchant wallet, and then bridged in its entirety to the BTC Blockchain.", said Arkham, adding that of the $204 million transferred, $142.4 million, or 69%, was sent to wallets owned by FTX International, "suggesting that Alameda may have been operating to bridge between the two entities."

Of the Ether transferred, $35.52 million was sent to FTX and $13.87 million was sent to a large active trading wallet. The firm noted that it's "unknown whether the almost 14M in ETH was sent to 0xa20 as part of a trade, or as an internal fund transfer within Alameda."

Bitcoin (BTC) has spent over a year in a downtrend since its $69,000 all-time highs in November 2021.

BTC price performance has given investors up to 77% losses, but how much lower can BTC/USD really go?

Bitcoin traders and analysts have long agreed that 2022 is the year of the largest cryptocurrency’s newest bear market.

After coming off all-time highs to start the year at around $46,000, BTC/USD has offered little relief and has since returned to levels not seen since November 2020, data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView confirms.

That has placed the pair in historical bear market bottom territory — having lost a maximum of around 77% since the most recent peak, Bitcoin could have little room left to fall.

Bitcoin (BTC) still risks a drop to below $7,000 in this bear market, the latest worst-case scenario prediction warns.

In its latest livestream broadcasted on Nov. 24, trading platform DecenTrader revealed targets for a BTC price bottom.

Analyst flags “oldschool, rock-hard support” for Bitc

The most recent in a series of BTC/USD forecasts, Decentrader co-founder Filbfilb mapped out a potential sub-$10,000 dip on the cards for the pair.

“In my worst case scenario, I think that would be probably where we end up, like oldschool, rock-hard support,” he said about a bidding zone around $6,500.

This is where buyers would “probably start refilling their bags,” he added, noting that that level was approximately double the 2018 bear market and March 2020 COVID-19 crash lows.

Bitcoin (BTC) has been trading near $16,500 since Nov. 23, recovering from a dip to $15,500 as investors feared the imminent insolvency of Genesis Global, a cryptocurrency lending and trending company. Genesis stated on Nov. 16 that it would “temporarily suspend redemptions and new loan originations in the lending business.” 

After causing initial mayhem in the markets, the firm refuted speculation of “imminent” bankruptcy on Nov. 22, although it confirmed difficulties in raising money. More importantly, Genesis' parent company Digital Currency Group (DCG) owns Grayscale — the asset manager behind Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, which holds some 633,360 BTC.

Contagion risks from the FTX-Alameda Research implosion continue to exert negative pressure on the markets, but the industry is working to improve transparency and insolvency risks. For example, on Nov. 24, crypto derivatives exchange Bybit launched a $100 million fund to help market makers and high-frequency trading institutions struggling with financial or operational difficulties.

More recently, on Nov. 25, Binance published a Merkle Tree-backed proof of funds for its Bitcoin deposits. Moreover, the exchange outlined how users can use the mechanism to verify their holdings. There’s no doubt that centralized institutions must embrace transparency and insurance mechanisms to regain investors’ trust.

First, however, one must analyze Bitcoin derivatives markets to fully understand how professional traders are digesting such news.