Finder’s product, Finder Earn, allows users to deposit a crypto stablecoin called TrueAUD (TAUD) and then earn a 4 per cent annual return on the amount deposited. TAUD is a stablecoin offered by US-based crypto firm TrustToken, which also operates an uncollateralised lending service called TrueFi.

TrueFi is currently owed $US12.8 million ($19.1 million) by Alameda, Bankman-Fried’s now-defunct $US15 billion trading firm. Alameda was also an investor in TrueFi, participating in a $US12.5 million funding round last year.

TrustToken’s lending platform and its stablecoin operations are separate, and the company says its stablecoin funds are fully collateralised and held in escrow at federally insured US-based depository institutions. The company does not appear to loan or otherwise invest stablecoin funds and publishes live verifications of the funds in escrow.

For this reason, a spokesperson for Finder said the company said it was confident there would be no potential flow-on effects for Finder Earn customers, noting that TAUD was not lent to Alameda and that TrustToken did not hold the stablecoin currencies itself.

“The [lending] pools on TrueFi themselves are separate to the issuance or redemption of the respective stablecoins they accept in lending, borrowing, collateral or payment of returns,” a spokesperson said. “There is no TAUD offering on TrueFi.”

Despite this, other Australian cryptocurrency exchanges have made moves to distance themselves from TAUD recently, with a spokesperson for Swyftx telling this masthead it had removed the stablecoin from one of its investment products last month in an effort to protect users from assets that derive yields from risky methods.

Loading

“We took a decision a number of weeks ago to only offer stakeable assets through our...offering. We’re being deliberately cautious on this one to provide an additional blanket of protection to our customers,” Swyftx head of strategic partnerships Tommy Honan said.

News of FTX’s possible hack started spreading on Twitter late Friday, as crypto enthusiasts examined public transaction records documenting the movement of cryptocurrencies. A report by crypto research firm Elliptic pegged the amount that may have been stolen or hacked at $US515 million.

The exact nature of the transfers remained unclear. It could have been the result of a hacker gaining access to the exchange’s system or an insider with special access seeking to abscond with funds. Asked about the transfers, Bankman-Fried said in a text to the New York Times, “We’re sorting through it with the bankruptcy” team.

A major theft would probably make it even more difficult for FTX to refund customers and other creditors who have already lost billions of dollars in the firm’s collapse. FTX is estimated to owe $US8 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. In an initial filing Friday, FTX said it had more than 100,000 creditors.

- with The New York Times