Cryptocurrency exchange FTX said its restructuring plans did not include a “reboot” of the firm but focused on repaying customers in full.
In a Jan. 31 hearing in United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, FTX attorney Andy Dietderich from law firm Sullivan and Cromwell said the exchange could “cautiously predict” fully repaying users and creditors but added this was “an objective” and not a “guarantee.” He said that “after an exhaustive effort,” there was no plan to restart FTX — dubbed FTX 2.0 — in its current Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan.
“Based on our results to date and current projections, we anticipate filing a disclosure statement in February describing how customers and general unsecured creditors with allowed claims will eventually be paid in full,” said Dietderich. “No investor is ready to commit the needed capital to a restart of the offshore exchange, nor has a buyer emerged for that exchange as a going concern.”
Dietderich reiterated concerns that under former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX had kept poor financial and company records regarding assets and employees. The lawyer said that LedgerX — one of the only FTX arms claimed to be solvent when the firm filed for bankruptcy in November 2022 — had been a “horrible investment.”
Bankman-Fried was found guilty of seven felony counts related to fraud at FTX and Alameda Research in November 2023. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 28. At roughly the same time as Dietderich’s announcement, FTX Token’s (FTT) price surged more than 12% from $2.67 to $3.01 before falling to $2.24.
