Alameda Research, the trading arm of the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has filed a lawsuit against Waves founder Aleksandr Ivanov and affiliated entities in a bid to reclaim $90 million.
The lawsuit, filed on Sunday, alleges that Alameda seeks the return of assets tied to FTX’s bankruptcy proceedings, claiming the assets had been previously deposited with Vires.Finance, a liquidity platform on the Waves blockchain.
According to the filing, Alameda deposited around $80 million in USDT and USDC stablecoins on Vires in March 2022, which were reportedly converted into approximately $90 million worth of the USDN stablecoin.
The lawsuit alleges that Ivanov encouraged Vires users to deposit assets through Waves to earn rewards and governance rights but secretly conducted transactions that inflated the WAVES token’s value while redirecting funds from Vires.
Alameda claims that it has made several attempts to recover its frozen assets but has received minimal cooperation from Ivanov, who reportedly joined just one call in January 2023 and has since avoided further outreach efforts.
The lawsuit is part of a broader move by FTX’s bankruptcy estate, which has filed over 20 lawsuits against various entities in recent days to retrieve assets for creditors. Other targets include Anthony Scaramucci, CEO of SkyBridge Capital, developers behind Storybook Brawl, and Deltec Bank chairman Jean Chalopin.
Waves has faced recent challenges, with its token price dropping 0.3% to $1.12 as of the latest trading data and a market cap of around $112.3 million. Binance delisted Waves in June, leading to a nearly 30% drop in the token’s value.
