Journalists have validated data that suggests interactions between the memecoin BALD’s deployer contract and one of the wallets tagged by Nansen as belonging to Alameda Research – the trading company founded and controlled by Sam Bankman-Fried. Wintermute’s head of research, Igor Igamberdiev, stated that while the actions seemed to be definitely someone from Alameda, it was unlikely to be Bankman-Fried himself. Given the track record and the lack of contacts with other players (even 3AC actively interacted with BlockFi, Genesis, etc.), then we can point the finger toward someone from Alameda, he tweeted, And let’s try to answer probably the most critical question, SBF or Sam Trabucco?
The rug-pulling of BALD has caused prices to plunge as much as 90% as holders made a run for the exits. However, while the on-chain evidence is skewed toward suggesting that an Alameda-controlled wallet has interacted with the wallet used as a contract deployer, it’s unlikely that disgraced FTX founder Bankman-Fried is behind it – as some on social media app X speculated as of Tuesday morning. As part of his bail conditions, Bankman-Fried’s access to the Internet is heavily controlled and restricted to a selection of news, sports, and educational websites.
The Coinbase-built Base blockchain, which launched its testnet in January and opened to builders in mid-July, saw a sudden rush in capital and users over the last weekend due to the lure of meme coin fortunes in a starved market. Traders flocked to purchase BALD tokens, which jumped to $85 million market cap late on Sunday, with some traders like @cheatcoiner over $1.4 million from an initial $500 investment.