FTX Bankruptcy: Aims to Repay Customer’s Asset

FTX has received court approval for its bankruptcy plan as of October 7. This plan will help repay customers with $16.5 billion worth of assets that the company has recovered since its collapse. The agreements involve customers, creditors, and U.S. government agencies. The main goal is to use these funds to repay customers first, before handling other claims from regulators.

The company aims to repay 98% of its customers—those who held $50,000 or less—within 60 days of the plan’s start, though the exact start date hasn’t been set yet. FTX expects to have between $14.7 billion and $16.5 billion available. This would allow customers to recover at least 118% of their account value from November 2022, when FTX filed for bankruptcy.

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FTX is also in talks with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding $1 billion that the government seized during the criminal case against FTX’s founder, Sam Bankman-Fried. Some of these funds might go to shareholders, including Singapore’s Temasek, which could receive up to $230 million. However, Temasek had already written off its $275 million investment in FTX.

FTX collapsed after it was revealed that Bankman-Fried had misused customer funds to cover losses at his hedge fund Alameda Research, and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Despite the collapse, FTX was able to recover lost assets and sell off investments to improve its financial situation. Some customers are unhappy with the plan because they want to be compensated based on the current higher cryptocurrency prices. For example, Bitcoin has risen from $16,000 in 2022 to over $63,000 today. However, FTX’s repayments are based on 2022 values. FTX explained that it’s not possible to return the original cryptocurrencies because the funds were misused.

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At the time of the bankruptcy, FTX had only 0.1% of the Bitcoin that customers thought they had. Steve Coverick, FTX’s financial adviser, stated that buying back billions of dollars in crypto to repay customers would be too expensive.

Despite complaints from some users, the bankruptcy plan is considered a win for creditors. FTX’s recovery of lost assets has been key to moving forward with repayments. The company continues to work with government agencies and liquidators to finalize the repayment process.

This plan marks a big step for FTX and its customers, providing a way for customers to get repaid despite the challenges.