FTX Lawyers Say $5B in Crypto Assets Uncovered

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Facts

• At a Delaware bankruptcy court on Wednesday, lawyers for crypto exchange FTX said the company has recovered $5B worth of liquid assets. None of this amount reportedly includes any illiquid cryptocurrency assets.¹
• The uncovered assets — allegedly including cash, liquid digital assets, and investment securities — comes as FTX under new CEO John J. Ray III is trying to recover as many customer and investor assets as possible following the company's collapse under the previous CEO and founder Sam Bankman-Fried.²
• The newly discovered amount also doesn't include the $425M being held by authorities in the Bahamas or the company's current book value of $4.6B, of which the firm is hoping to sell hundreds of holdings.³
• After FTX filed for bankruptcy in November, the new CEO was initially unsure of how much they would recover for reimbursements. Then in December, the company estimated it could find $1B, with estimates of how much is owed in total being as high as $10B.⁴
• Though the company's Chief Financial Officer Mary Cilia estimated last month that the entire recovery process would be completed by April, Delaware Bankruptcy Court Judge John Dorsey set a March 15 deadline at Wednesday's hearing.⁵
• The company, once valued at $32B before its collapse and the arrest of Bankman-Fried on federal fraud and conspiracy charges, is also looking to sell affiliates LedgerX, Embed, FTX Japan, and FTX Europe, for which it was seeking approval in court on Wednesday.⁶

Sources: ¹NBC, ²FOX News, ³Wall Street Journal, ⁴Decrypt, ⁵Coindesk and ⁶New York Post.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Watcher Guru. The entire FTX saga has shown the corrupt and volatile nature of Sam Bankman-Fried, the crypto industry at large, and its regulators. As the company scrambles to find assets for paybacks, the crypto market is tanking. Entities like the federal Southern District of New York are probing how wide-ranging potential offenses are — with bribery, fraud, and campaign finance violations all in play.
• Narrative B, as provided by CoinGape. Despite the myriad problems exposed by the FTX fiasco, cryptocurrency can't be counted out as a viable investment. With wages slowing and the service sector contracting in the US, it's possible that the Fed will ease up on interest rate hikes — something very positive for the crypto market. A market rebound may be on the way.