Good day everybody,
Welcome to CryptoGod-1's blog on all things crypto. In this post I will be looking at the latest rugpull to hit the market, and how potential links between BALD and Sam Bankman-Fried have emerged.
Alameda and Bald
Sam Bankman-Fried’s trading firm Alameda Research has been linked to the recent rugpull token known as BALD. Members of the crypto community went through sleuths of on-chain data to to discover that the deployer of the smart contract for BALD, which was built on Coinbase's Layer 2 blockchain Base, had in the past interacted with wallets controlled by Alameda Research. Considering the level of scrutiny surrounding these wallets given the activity of SBF in the past, it is surprising to see this token created with links to these wallets. Social media community members were quick to share screenshots of the data to spread the news as quick as possible, as shown below.
The token managed to gain a staggering 4 million % from when it was issued, before the creators decided to suddenly removed millions of dollars in liquidity from the tokens trading pairs on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) on Monday the 31st of July 2023. This forced a crash of the price and made sure holders could not sell their tokens for anywhere near the previous highs, which had seen the token gain a market capitalization of over $68 million at its peak.
Not SBF, then who?
While the deployer contract is linked to Alameda Research, there is nothing to confirm or suggest it was Sam Bankman-Fried himself who actually deployed it. The token launch could have theoretically deployed by anybody associated with Alameda, which would include the firm's former CEO Caroline Ellison, or any of the traders or other people who worked at the firm prior to it going bankrupt.
The probability that Bankman-Fried or any of core team members at FTX or Alameda being behind the token is extremely minimal, according to crypto news reporter Colin Wu.
Others on Twitter (X) were also keen to share their conspiracy theories behind the token, and who they believe may be at fault for the rugpull. Some believe it could be Bankman-Fried’s former business partner Sam Trabucco, who was Alameda’s co-CEO until August of 2022. Trabucco has been at large the entirety of the time since the crash of FTX in November 2022, and some think he could be the mastermind behind the deception. Head of research for crypto trading firm Wintermute, Igor Igamberdiev, shared his long list of reasons why it could indeed be Sam Trabucco and not Bankman-Fried behind the BALD token.
Interesting thought and theories, although it is unlikely we will ever know the truth.
Have a great day.
Peace. CryptoGod-1.
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