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The imploding cryptocurrency trading firm FTX is now short billions of dollars after experiencing the crypto equivalent of a bank run.

The exchange, formerly one of the world's largest, sought bankruptcy protection last week, and its CEO and founder resigned.

Hours later, the trading firm said there had been “unauthorised access” and that funds had disappeared. Analysts say hundreds of millions of dollars may have vanished.

The unravelling of the once-giant exchange is sending shockwaves through the industry. Here's a look at the company's collapse so far:

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Why did FTX go bankrupt?

Customers fled the exchange over fears about whether FTX had sufficient capital, and it agreed to sell itself to rival crypto exchange Binance. But the deal fell through while Binance’s due diligence on FTX’s balance sheet was still pending.

FTX had valued its assets between A$15 billion to $75 billion and listed more than 130 affiliated companies around the world, according to its bankruptcy filing.

READ MORE: Troubled Bitcoin may plunge by 25 per cent, Wall Street giant predicts

FTX and dozens of affiliated companies — including founder Sam Bankman-Fried's hedge fund, Alameda Research — filed the bankruptcy petition in Delaware on Friday.

The week’s developments marked a shocking turn of events for Bankman-Fried, who was hailed as somewhat of a savior earlier this year when he helped shore up a number of cryptocurrency companies that ran into financial trouble.

He was recently estimated to be worth $34 billion and has been a prominent political donor to Democrats.

Was it hacked, too?

FTX confirmed Saturday there had been unauthorised access to its accounts, hours after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

A debate formed on social media about whether the exchange was hacked or a company insider had stolen funds — a possibility that cryptocurrency analysts couldn’t rule out.

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Exactly how much money is involved is unclear, but analytics firm Elliptic estimated Saturday that 713 million was missing from the exchange. FTX's new CEO John Ray III said it was switching off the ability to trade or withdraw funds and taking steps to secure customers’ assets.

Is my Bitcoin safe?

People who own bitcoin should be OK if they keep them off exchanges such as FTX that effectively work as a “crypto-casino gambling website,” said Cory Klippsten, the CEO of financial services firm Swan Bitcoin.

“Any exchange is a security risk," said Klippsten. Some are more reputable than others, but he said a better option is to take control of your digital assets.

“With bitcoin, you have the option to take self-custody and take your coins off the exchange,” he said.

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Is FTX under investigation?

The Royal Bahamas Police Force said Sunday it is investigating FTX, adding to the company’s woes.

The police force said in a statement Sunday it was working with Bahamas securities regulators to “investigate if any criminal misconduct occurred” involving the exchange, which had moved its headquarters to the Caribbean country last year.

Is anyone else investigating?

Even before the bankruptcy filing and missing funds, the US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission began examining FTX to determine whether any criminal activity or securities offenses were committed, according to a person familiar with matter who spoke to The Associated Press last week on condition of anonymity because they could not discuss details of the investigations publicly.

What are the repercussions?

Companies that backed FTX are writing down investments, and the prices of bitcoin and other digital currencies have fallen.

Politicians and regulators are calling for stricter oversight of the unwieldy industry.

FTX said Saturday that it was moving as many digital assets as can be identified to a new “cold wallet custodian,” which is essentially a way of storing assets offline without allowing remote control.

FTX had entered into a number of sports-related deals, some of which are crumbling.

The NBA's Miami Heat and Miami-Dade County decided Friday to terminate their relationship with FTX, and will rename the team's arena.

Earlier Friday, Mercedes said it would immediately remove FTX logos from its Formula One cars.

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Porsche driver Richard Pusey has been found guilty of sending graphic and offensive pictures of the Eastern Freeway crash to a financial services watchdog.

Images from the crash that killed four police officers in April 2020 were attached to a November 2021 complaint sent by Pusey to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.

The images were graphic and offensive, and were sent by Pusey, magistrate Michelle Mykytowycz found on Monday after a contested hearing that began in August.

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Pusey, who uses they/them pronouns, pleaded not guilty to two charges of using a carriage service to cause offence.

Mykytowycz acquitted Pusey of the second charge, which alleged Pusey posted a Google review about Porsche Centre Melbourne using a separate image of the crash as the profile picture.

She said while the image was offensive, she was not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that it was Pusey and not another person who posted the online review.

Evidence about the AFCA complaint, including reference to Pusey's $2.2 million insurance claim, convinced her Pusey had sent the images to AFCA.

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The images were attached to the complaint seen by AFCA staffer Harry Ganavas.

"I felt repulsed and physically ill actually, at the graphic content of those photographs," he said during the contested hearing.

Pusey represented themself in court, cross-examining police about photos of the crash.

"Plenty of people took pictures, it's all over the internet, man. It's not my picture," Pusey had told police when interviewed about the complaint.

Sergeant Josh Parker admitted it was in the "realm of possibility" that there were other photos and videos from the crash still online.

Pusey was also convicted of one charged of committing an offence on bail.

They will face a pre-sentence hearing later on Monday and is expected to be sentenced at a later date.

An artwork by British street artist Banksy is seen on a building destroyed by fighting in Borodyanka, Kyiv region, Ukraine, Sunday

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains an image of a person who has died, which has been used with the permission of his family.

An inquest for an Indigenous teenager shot dead by a Northern Territory policeman is expected to hear about the pain his community suffered when it resumes in the outback town where was killed.

Kumanjayi Walker, 19, died after Constable Zachary Rolfe shot him three times during a bungled arrest in Yuendumu, north-west of Alice Springs on November 9, 2019.

The long-running inquiry into the Walpiri man's death has heard evidence about racism within the police force in the months before he was shot while resisting arrest in his grandmother's home.

READ MORE: What's happened so far in the inquest

Coroner Elisabeth Armitage will on Monday move the hearing from Alice Springs to Yuendumu for two days.

She will hear from Walpiri elders and others, with the trip described as a "listening experience".

Armitage will also view sites in the community that are key to her inquiry and relevant to Walker's death.

"It is an incredibly generous invitation that has been offered. It is a gracious invitation," she told the court earlier in the month.

"I take it very much to heart that we are being welcomed into Yuendumu.

"At the end of this process, however painful the process is, we do hope that we have a sense of hope.

"I am very pleased to be able to come to the community to listen to the hurt and the pain but also the plans for the future."

https://twitter.com/OLathouris_9/status/1591947196286795776

The visit is also likely to include a truth-telling meeting, where community members will be able to air their feelings and talk about the impact of Walker's death.

The coroner had planned to start the inquest with a visit to Yuendumu in early September but it was scrapped after some in the community objected to it.

After the visit, the inquest will recommence in Alice Springs on Wednesday, with Rolfe expected to give evidence.

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However, the officer's lawyers have reportedly applied to the NT Supreme Court to challenge the coroner's decision to hear some of the evidence concerning their client.

Rolfe was charged with Walker's murder four days after the shooting and acquitted in March following a Supreme Court trial.

The inquest last sat on November 4 in Alice Springs.

An Australian gaming studio has teamed up with some of the country's top gamers to develop a new online multiplayer game.

Developed by PlaySide Studios, World Boss is a first-person shooter that sees 16 players battle it out online in an arena-like environment, with only one to be crowned the "world boss".

It's being compared to the likes of Fortnite, but its creators say World Boss adds its "own character" to the table.

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Bringing in popular Aussie gamers LazarBeam and Fresh, PlaySide Studios is hoping their expertise will feed exciting new ideas into the game. 

Steven Yeakey, general manager for PC and console at PlaySide, has worked on the game since day one, he says their partnership with the pair has helped to steer the game in the right direction. 

"They've been instrumental in helping provide feedback, connecting us with the right people to playtest the game early, and really helping us validate our ideas," Yeakey told 9news.com.au. 

https://twitter.com/Lazarbeam/status/1580023758269878273

Yeakey said Fresh helped knuckle down the weapon balance for the game, while LazarBeam helped guide the PlaySide Studios team by implementing fun perks and other gameplay elements.

"We have a very specific kind of feel to the game and he was instrumental in making sure that that was not just feeling good for the player, but also balanced and fair," Yeaky said, also highlighting the collaborative efforts between the team. 

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Bobby Lever is a senior producer for World Boss, he says that while LazarBeam and Fresh have established large audiences from playing Fortnite, they don't want it to feel like a copy.

"Obviously, we didn't want to do something that was a carbon copy of what already existed, so at the outset, we wanted to put a unique spin on the shooter and do something a little bit different," he said. 

World Boss was officially released to the public last month, with an early access version available on Steam.  

Yeakey says the goal is to build the rest of the game from player feedback. 

"This is one of the core tenets of our development process," he said. 

Early access allows developers to gather feedback, make changes and understand players' needs effectively, Yeakey explained.

"We see this as the very early stages of the beginning of something pretty awesome and we're committed to taking it to where the community wants it to go," he said. 

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Natassha Roberts, a producer at Playside Studios, says the game is all about generating "great moments" for gamers. 

"Our core mode is an endless game mode where you get in, you level up, gain abilities, weapons, equipment, and you try to find the right build to take your opponents out," she said. 

Roberts describes World Boss as a "lightweight, social experience", that draws inspiration from roguelites and IO games.  

Every match will be a unique and randomised experience for the player, Lever said. 

"The key to World Boss is that there might be a lot of similarities and familiarity with individual mechanics, but how we've decided to deliver them to the player, and how we let them utilise it, I think is quite unique," he said. 

Lever said the development team wants to make World Boss as quick and easy to jump into as possible. 

"We have servers that are running almost all the time, so you'll just drop into a free slot in a match that likely already has players in it," he said. 

"The state of the game could be different at any point in time, but it gives you the ability to pick up at any point, play for as long as you like, and leave whenever you need to." 

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Yeakey says that players may find a sense of familiarity between World Boss and other games but at a core level it comes down to enjoyment.

"(World Boss) is much quicker to get into, much easier to exit. Because of that, I think that that's probably one of the unique things that will draw people in early," he said.

"You don't have to go and invest hundreds of hours to feel like you are able to gain an advantage or be effective. It takes minutes."

The first update for the game was released last week, adding new region select, further gameplay balancing, and a range of bug fixes and stability improvements. 

To keep up with the game's development, players can follow the game on Steam. 

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