Alameda Research Files Lawsuit Against Waves Founder

Alameda Research, the trading affiliate of the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, has filed a lawsuit against Aleksandr Ivanov, founder of Waves and its affiliated entities, in an attempt to claw back at least $90 million.

In a Sunday filing, Alameda stated that it seeks the turnover of assets worth $90 million belonging to Alameda and the debtors in the FTX bankruptcy case, explaining that these assets were previously deposited with Vires.Finance, a liquidity platform operating on the Waves blockchain.

In March 2022, Alameda deposited around $80 million in USDT and USDC on Vires, which was reportedly converted to approximately $90 million worth of USDN, as noted in the filing. Vires encouraged users to deposit assets via the Waves blockchain to earn rewards or governance rights in the Vires DAO.

Alameda accused Ivanov of secretly orchestrating transactions that artificially inflated the value of WAVES while siphoning funds from Vires, despite marketing Waves and Vires as profitable opportunities for users.

Alameda mentioned that the debtors have made multiple attempts to regain custody of their frozen assets, but Ivanov only participated in one call with them in January 2023 and has since ignored further outreach.

Clawback Action

Recently, the FTX estate has filed over 20 lawsuits against various entities to reclaim funds for creditors. Notable individuals being targeted include SkyBridge Capital CEO Anthony Scaramucci, game developers behind Storybook Brawl, and Deltec Bank chairman Jean Chalopin.

As of the time of writing, the price of Waves has decreased by 0.3% over the past 24 hours, trading at $1.12. Its market capitalization is around $112.3 million. In June, Binance delisted Waves, resulting in a nearly 30% drop in the token price.