Prices of claims on the crypto exchange FTX have increased ahead of a Jan. 25 estimation hearing, where creditors expect the ruling to favor their demand for “in kind” repayments in cryptocurrency.
FTX claims are now trading at almost 80 cents to the dollar, according to Cherokee Acquisition, an investment banking firm that specializes in bankruptcy claims and providing liquidity on FTX claims.
FTX claims: prices for #FTX claims over $1mm continue to increase. Market prices as of January 12 were 72 bid, 75 ask, up 2 points from the prior week.
— Claims Market (@claims_market) January 17, 2024
Prices continue to increase in anticipation of the #bankruptcy Claims Estimation Hearing on January 25.… pic.twitter.com/NZiuUUVnpA
X (formerly Twitter) account Claims Market, managed by the claims firm, said prices have continued to increase in anticipation of a Jan. 25 court hearing where FTX will seek approval of its list of cryptocurrency prices.
FTX has proposed to pay back its creditors based on the price of cryptocurrency on the day of its bankruptcy. However, FTX creditors remain determined to receive an “in-kind” payment, which considers only the number of tokens lost and not the market prices.
According to data reportedly sourced from Cherokee Acquisition and Claims Market, FTX claims for over $3 million have increased up to 80%. In November 2022, the claim pricing of FTX had reached 57%, which was previously attributed to the success of FTX’s investments in artificial intelligence (AI) companies.
Claims prices increased up to 80% pic.twitter.com/Qk1beDeZFu
— FTXRELOADED (@FTXRELOADED) January 22, 2024
A higher percentage claim value reflects a higher confidence among creditors in receiving sizeable repayments. In comparison, other bankrupt crypto companies, such as Alameda Research, Genesis Global and Three Arrows Capital, have also substantially increased claims prices by roughly 45%, 67% and 32%, respectively.
Meanwhile, over 100 objection letters against the debtor’s motion to estimate claims have been filed worldwide from South Korea, the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, among others, by retail FTX customers, according to an FTX creditor.
153 objection letters have been filed to Debtors motion to estimate claims(petition prices)
— Sunil (FTX Creditor Champion) (@sunil_trades) January 19, 2024
Objection letters represent worldwide FTX customers from Korea, HK, Singapore to US, Canada, UK, Germany etc
Reflects retail FTX users desire not secondary, institutional, non customers pic.twitter.com/XNm2gkFueU
Related: Alameda Research drops suit against Grayscale as GBTC sees outflows
An estimated one million creditors seek redemption from the FTX fallout. In a court filing, FTX disclosed it owes $3.1 billion to the top 50 creditors alone. The largest creditor is owed $226 million, as shown below.
FTX discloses its top 50 creditors are owed $3.1 billion.
— Tom Dunleavy (@dunleavy89) November 20, 2022
The largest creditor is owed $226 million.
All names were redacted. pic.twitter.com/JGeddvMB7w
The estate for FTX and Alameda Research reportedly sold more than two-thirds of its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust shares and raised at least $600 million in the process.
#FTX Shocks Market with $1B #Grayscale ETF Sell-Off & Alameda Drops Bombshell Lawsuit Against Grayscale! $GBT
— RichQuack (@RichQuack) January 22, 2024
• FTX's bankruptcy estate offloaded approximately $1 billion of Grayscale's Bitcoin ETF, shedding light on recent GBTC outflows.
• Since the conversion… pic.twitter.com/iipXsgXnef
According to a Bloomberg report, the FTX estate held 22.28 million shares (worth $902 million at the time) of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust before Jan. 11, when the trust was converted into a spot exchange-traded fund.
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