FTX to pay back most customers
FTX says that nearly all of its customers will receive money they are owed, two years after the United States-based cryptocurrency exchange imploded, and some will get more than that.
FTX said in a court filing it owes about US$11.2 billion ($18.6b) to its creditors. The exchange estimates that it has between US$14.5b and US$16.3b to distribute to them. The filing said that after paying claims in full, the plan provides for supplemental interest payments to creditors, to the extent that funds still remain. The interest rate for most creditors is 9 per cent.
That may be a diminished consolation for investors who were trading cryptocurrency on the exchange when it collapsed. When FTX sought bankruptcy protection in November
2022, bitcoin was going for US$16,080. But crypto prices have soared as the economy recovered while the assets at FTX were sorted out over the past two years. A single bitcoin on Tuesday was selling for close to US$62,675. That comes out to a 290 per cent loss, a bit less than that if accrued interest is counted, if those investors had held onto those coins.
Customers and creditors that claim US$50,000 or less will get about
118 per cent of their claim, according to the plan, which was filed with the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. This covers about 98 per cent of FTX customers.
FTX said that it was able to recover funds by monetising a collection of assets that mostly consisted of proprietary investments held by the Alameda or FTX Ventures businesses, or litigation claims.
FTX was the third-largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world when it filed for bankruptcy protection in November 2022 after it experienced the crypto equivalent of a bank run. Chief executive and founder Sam Bankman-Fried resigned when the exchange collapsed. In March he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the massive fraud that occurred at FTX.
The new chief executive is John Ray, a bankruptcy litigator best known for having to clean up the mess made after the collapse of Enron.
The bankruptcy court is set to hold a hearing on the dispersion of FTX assets on June 25.