Alameda Research tied to Bald coin crash: Wintermute researcher

Amid the controversy of Bald meme coin’s abrupt rug pull performance, Wintermute’s Igor Igamberdiev, steps into the spotlight to uncover where the funds have gone.

Crypto Twitter has been sent into a tailspin following the alleged rug pull of the Bald meme coin, prompting blockchain investigators to delve deep into the precedents leading up to this incident.

Bald meme coin has become a hot topic in the crypto ecosystem, skyrocketing to a market capitalization of $85 million at its apex. The rise was then followed by a heavy decline in value, plummeting to near-zero levels, usually a hallmark of a rug pull. This exploitative technique involves the removal of liquidity by key insiders, thereby resulting in a price drop. The creator of the Bald meme coin admitted his role in the liquidity pull via a tweet.

I didn't sell a single token at any point since deployment. Just added/removed 2 sided liquidity and bought

— Bald (@BaldBaseBald) July 31, 2023

Igor Igamberdiev, Wintermute’s chief of research, uncovered information implying the Bald token creators – identified through the smart contract address that brought the coin into existence on the Base network – are linked to Alameda Research, once FTX exchange’s research and trading subsidiary, which has since fallen apart.

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Alright, I've been sitting on this news all day, but let's look at the @BaldBaseBald deployer.

This is definitely someone from Alameda, but I don't think we can safely say that this is @SBF_FTX (even though he is a psycho)

Let's go👇 pic.twitter.com/qs7e2nMTI1

— Igor Igamberdiev (@FrankResearcher) August 1, 2023

Igamberdiev’s research emphasizes the discovery of an old wallet, 0x000f7f, tied to the creator’s address, stemming from both addresses sharing a common FTX deposit account. The ties between Alameda and the wallet are visible through their direct engagements dating back to June 2021.

Notably, this particular wallet showed significant activity during 2019-20 on platforms like Oasis, 0x v2.1, dYdX v2, and Set Protocol, hinting at its owner’s financial prowess and technological expertise.

A different wallet address (0xF3ad7b) also finds mention in Igamberdiev’s study, characterized by on-chain patterns similar to FTX’s, and sharing the FTX deposit address with 0x000f7f. This wallet exhibited substantial trading on dYdX and played a part in SushiSwap’s initial proposals.

The address’ allocation of sizeable funds to farm tokens on platforms like Compound, SushiSwap, Cream, and Stargate, and its receipt of a POAP NFT from the Yearn launch, all coincide with FTX’s typical defi activities. Igamberdiev inferred these engagements with offshore exchanges as further evidence of FTX affiliation.