Alameda Research Files Lawsuit Against Waves Founder Ivanov to Recover $90M

Alameda Research, the trading arm of the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, has filed a lawsuit against Aleksandr Ivanov, the founder of the Waves blockchain and its related entities.

The court filing on November 10th revealed that Alameda aims to recover at least $90 million, which it states belongs to the firm and the debtors involved in the FTX bankruptcy. Alameda reported that it had previously deposited these assets with Vires.Finance, a liquidity platform on the Waves network.

Alameda Seeks Asset Recovery of $90M

In March 2022, Alameda transferred approximately $80 million in stablecoins USDT and USDC to Vires, which was subsequently converted to around $90 million in USDN. The filing notes that Vires users were incentivized to deposit funds on the Waves blockchain through Vires to earn rewards, accrue interest, and gain governance rights within the Vires DAO.

According to Alameda, Ivanov promoted Waves and Vires as profit-making opportunities for users but allegedly manipulated WAVES’ value through a series of secretive transactions while siphoning funds from Vires. When the scheme began to unravel, WAVES lost over 95% of its value, resulting in $530 million in losses for Vires users.

The filing further alleges that Ivanov publicly accused the trading firm of destabilizing the Waves ecosystem to deflect the blame. Privately, the exec attempted to extort Alameda, threatening to freeze its assets if it didn’t support Vires, the court document revealed.

After Alameda refused, Ivanov used his control over the Vires DAO to block withdrawals of its assets, converting them into USDN. Ivanov further sought concessions from Alameda by promising access to assets in fiat if it complied, but Alameda declined.

Despite promising to cooperate, Ivanov participated in only one call and ignored all further contact. In 2023, Ivanov claimed to have dissolved the entities managing Waves and Vires, prompting Alameda to seek asset recovery and damages for fraud and conversion.

FTX Legal Battle Expands to Binance and CZ

Over the past few days, the FTX estate has filed several lawsuits against various parties to reclaim funds for creditors. Key individuals named in these lawsuits include Anthony Scaramucci, CEO of SkyBridge Capital and former Trump administration official, among others.

More recently, FTX has targeted Binance and its ex-CEO, Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao. The latest lawsuit seeks to recover $1.8 billion, which FTX claims was fraudulently transferred by its former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried.