Alameda Research, the hedge fund subsidiary of the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, has filed a lawsuit against Sasha Ivanov, the founder of the Waves blockchain.
The suit, filed on November 10, seeks to recover $90 million worth of cryptocurrency deposited with Vires.Finance, a decentralized exchange built on the Waves blockchain.
According to the court filing, Alameda deposited approximately $80 million in stablecoins—Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC)—on Vires.Finance in March 2022 as part of its investment activities. These assets were subsequently converted into USDN, an algorithmic stablecoin issued by Waves’ Neutrino Protocol, amounting to about $90 million. However, the stablecoin faced significant volatility, repeatedly losing its peg to the U.S. dollar and eventually rebranding as Neutrino USD (XTN), which has since suffered a drastic 98% loss in value.
The lawsuit accused Ivanov of orchestrating transactions that artificially inflated the value of WAVES tokens, enabling him to divert funds from Vires.Finance. Alameda alleged that Ivanov promoted Vires as a profitable platform for lenders while secretly manipulating WAVES prices and siphoning assets.
The filing claims that Ivanov publicly blamed Alameda for destabilizing Waves’ ecosystem to deflect attention from his alleged involvement and as these practices came to light, the WAVES token experienced a 95% price drop.
While Ivanov reportedly committed to returning Alameda’s assets to benefit creditors, he allegedly ceased communication and dissolved Vires.Finance’s and Waves’ operational entities, according to the lawsuit.
This lawsuit against Ivanov coincides with ongoing regulatory challenges for FTX’s international entities. Cyprus’s Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) recently extended its suspension of FTX Europe’s operations for a fourth time, announced on November 5.
The extension pushes the suspension out another six months, now lasting until May 30, 2025. Under this directive, FTX Europe is prohibited from offering new services, onboarding new clients, or engaging in promotional activities, though it remains permitted to facilitate withdrawals for existing customers.
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