Wallets linked to the FTX bankruptcy estate and Alameda Research transferred approximately 27,373 ether—worth roughly $75 million—at some point this week to a wallet associated with crypto market maker Wintermute, onchain data showed.
Onchain analytics firms PeckShield and EmberCN independently flagged the activity, though their figures diverged slightly. PeckShieldAlert identified a single transfer of 23,639 ether valued at about $65 million from an address labeled as belonging to the Alameda Research and FTX bankruptcy estate to a Wintermute-labeled wallet early Wednesday. EmberCN reported six wallets moving a combined 27,372 ether to Wintermute in a post on X, tracing the flows via the Arkham intelligence platform. The discrepancy suggests PeckShield captured the largest individual transaction while EmberCN accounted for multiple transfers.
The movements could indicate an intention to sell or hedge the holdings, a common route for large holders seeking liquidity without routing assets directly through public exchanges. However, onchain data does not show that Wintermute subsequently sold the ether, nor does it establish that the transfer was intended to fund creditor distributions. Wintermute did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and the FTX Recovery Trust has not issued any public statement regarding the transfers.
The latest movement comes amid the FTX Recovery Trust's ongoing creditor-distribution program following the exchange's collapse and the imprisonment of founder Sam Bankman-Fried. The trust, managing assets recovered from the defunct exchange and its affiliated trading firm, has previously moved digital assets to exchanges during its multiyear wind-down. A $2.2 billion payout is planned for March, marking the fourth distribution under the Chapter 11 reorganization plan.
Transfers to a market maker do not necessarily mean the ether will appear on public exchange order books immediately. Wintermute could hold the assets as inventory, manage hedging exposure, or execute sales gradually rather than in a single transaction.
