FTX debtors and liquidators reach ‘novel and mutually-beneficial’ settlement

Debtors for FTX announced a global settlement with the Joint Official Liquidators for FTX Digital Markets, proposing the two pool assets as part of efforts to repay customers.
Debtors for FTX announced a global settlement with the Joint Official Liquidators for FTX Digital Markets, proposing the two pool assets as part of efforts to repay customers.

Debtors for defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX have announced a global settlement with the Joint Official Liquidators for the firm’s Bahamian arm as part of bankruptcy proceedings.

In a Dec. 19 announcement, FTX debtors said they planned to pool assets with FTX Digital Markets as part of efforts to distribute funds to users of the defunct crypto exchange. The firms said the settlement was a “novel and mutually-beneficial solution” based on cross-border legal issues related to the collapse of FTX in November 2022.

According to the terms of the proposed settlement — subject to approval by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware and the Supreme Court of the Bahamas — all FTX users who don’t otherwise have claims pending with the court will be paid in U.S. dollars for losses in cash or digital assets, except nonfungible tokens (NFTs). Eligible users with claims can vote on the reimbursement plan in the second quarter of 2024.

The proposed settlement added:

“FTT interests against the FTX Debtors and FTX Digital Markets will be treated as equity and not receive any recovery.”

“The Global Settlement Agreement is another critical milestone for the FTX Debtors,” said John J. Ray III, who became CEO of FTX following the departure of Sam Bankman-Fried. “The unique challenges raised by the conflicting filings of the FTX Debtors and FTX Digital Markets have been some of the toughest the team has faced. But we recognized at the beginning that we have an overlapping constituency: FTX.com customers.”

Related: FTX loses $53K every hour on ‘bankruptcy fees,’ latest filings show

The announcement was the latest update in FTX’s bankruptcy proceedings, which started following the collapse of the exchange in November 2022. In November 2023, Bankman-Fried was found guilty of seven felony counts related to the misuse of funds between FTX and Alameda Research. He is scheduled to be sentenced in March.

FTX debtors have been regularly filing motions with the Delaware bankruptcy court to sell off company assets and repay creditors. A judge has already signed off on the sale of LedgerX, $873 million of trust assets, $3.4 billion in digital assets and a settlement between FTX and Genesis.

Magazine: Can you trust crypto exchanges after the collapse of FTX?