According to CoinDesk: FTX, a leading crypto exchange under the helm of Sam Bankman-Fried, narrowly escaped a hit of over $1 billion owing to loose security measures during a November 2022 hack, says a report by Wired. The hacking episode led to the loss of nearly $400 million in various tokens.

The report explains that the exchange's executives hastened to shift over $1 billion worth of diverse assets to different storage devices as FTX was being drained. As a result, they managed to salvage most of the funds. The hacking incident suggests that a significant share of the entire balance of the exchange was in danger of getting stolen.

Accounts associated with FTX and FTX.US were emptied hours after FTX filed for bankruptcy and founder Sam Bankman-Fried stepped away from the crypto business. The FTX Debtors' CEO and Chief Restructuring Officer, John J. Ray III, later stated that $323 million in assorted tokens were taken from its international exchange and $90 million from its U.S. network.

FTX reportedly mainly stored its funds on hot wallets, exposing a point of vulnerability for attacks. The unidentified attackers were apparently able to access FTX's private keys and began draining the assets. After filing for bankruptcy, much of the FTX team was unaware of the precise number of wallets owned by the firm or where their private keys were held.

Gary Wang, FTX co-founder who faces fraud allegations alongside Bankman-Fried, managed to access some wallets and initiated fund transfers. Wang succeeded in transferring around $500 million to a wallet on adviser Kumanan Ramanathan's Ledger Nano, effectively stopping the outflow of FTX funds. FTX and Bankman-Fried transferred another $500 million to wallets provided by crypto custodian BitGo the next day, rescuing over $1 billion that could have otherwise been lost.

Nevertheless, the reportedly stolen funds have been in motion over the past week, adding to the ongoing mysteries surrounding FTX's collapse.