Alleged scammers send FTX 2.0 token from FTX wallets

A token called FTX 2.0 (FTX2.0) is being spread among cryptocurrency users from an actual FTX address, one transaction moving 22 million to a wallet controlled by Justin Sun — the founder of tron (TRX).

FTX 2.0 is a token deployed on Dec. 14, 2022 that has only seen 62 transfers so far.

Very little is known about this token and there would most probably be no reason to pay attention to it if it was not for transactions that spread this very token from real addresses of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX — based on Arkham Intelligence and Etherscan data.

FTX 2.0?

One billion tokens were minted onto one FTX address about 20 hours before press time on Jan. 19, and the activity started. This mysterious activity also involved the FTX Token’s (FTT) Treasury, FTX Cold Storage, Alameda Research, four different Binance deposit addresses, a KuCoin deposit address, and a different FTX deposit address all passively receiving FTX 2.0 tokens.

Nearly all those transactions were moved out of an FTX-controlled address that had rarely been active since the exchange’s bankruptcy. Since Jan. 5, this address has only sent one transaction that did not involve the FTX 2.0 token, which was the withdrawal of $20,000 worth of Compound (COMP) from the on-chain lending platform.

In a Jan. 20 twitter thread, crypto cybersecurity firm PeckShieldAlert warns that the token is being spread by scammers “pretending to be the FTX exchange to add liquidity” and airdropping to Justin Sun, Kucoin and Binance. This activity, according to the firm, is meant to trick “people into thinking this is the official FTX airdrop.”

Perhaps more alarmingly, the PeckShield also warned that the token “also has the backdoor functions” allowing the contract controller to “arbitrarily manipulate any account’s balance.”

This feature explains the outbound transfers from a known FTX wallet since those transfers could have been initiated with the keys controlling the FTX 2.0 token contract without needing the FTX wallet’s keys.

Despite the best efforts by the alleged scammers, while the token is listed against wrapped ethereum (WETH) on the Uniswap (UNI) decentralized exchange (DEX), it has registered no trading volume over the 24 hours before press time according to CoinMarketCap data.

The developments follow a recent report by youtube journalist CoffeeZilla in which he detailed the reasons why he believes the project to be a scam.