Advisers to bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX say they have recovered about $5 billion U.S. in cash and digital assets that can be sold to help repay creditors.
Attorneys for FTX say they have found liquid assets worth $4.6 billion U.S., as well as millions of dollars worth of crypto assets that are illiquid and likely to be harder to sell.
FTX filed for bankruptcy on November 11 of last year. At that time, the company was missing $8 billion U.S. of assets owed to more than one million creditors.
The recovery of $5 billion U.S. in assets is good news for FTX’s creditors and its former chief executive officer (CEO) Sam Bankman-Fried who has been charged with multiple counts of criminal fraud and faces years in prison if convicted.
Lawyers and accountants have been sorting through FTX’s finances ever since the crypto exchange filed for bankruptcy last fall. FTX had poor recordkeeping and limited accounting, according to the team that has taken over the company following its bankruptcy filing.
However, FTX advisers say they have now identified more than nine million customer accounts, and 120 billion transactions that had taken place on FTX platforms before they were shutdown.
Lawyers representing FTX said in a New York City courtroom that they don’t yet know how much money creditors will ultimately get back, or what percentage of their debts will be repaid.
