The debtors of now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX have submitted an amended Chapter 11 plan of reorganization, suggesting that customer asset claims should be valued retroactively to the date of the exchange’s collapse in November last year. In a recent court filing at the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, the debtors proposed that any customer claim seeking compensation from the exchange should be based on the asset’s value as of November 11, 2022.
Valuing the Customer Asset Claims
According to the plan, the value of each claim will be determined by converting the crypto assets into cash using conversion rates specified in a conversion table. Cryptocurrency prices have risen significantly since the bankruptcy filing. Bitcoin, for example, was valued at $17,036 during the filing but has since surged to $42,272 at the time of publication.
In a separate development, FTX received approval on November 30 to sell around $873 million worth of trust assets, with the intention of using the proceeds to repay creditors of the collapsed exchange. Furthermore, on December 7, the FTX 2.0 Customer Ad Hoc Committee proposed revising the reorganization plan to ensure a fair balance among the stakeholders’ interests.
Scrutiny on FTX and Alameda Research
Meanwhile, there has been growing scrutiny regarding the activities of crypto assets associated with both FTX and Alameda Research. On December 9, reports emerged that wallets linked to these defunct entities had transferred digital assets worth $23.59 million to multiple cryptocurrency exchanges.
Last month, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was found guilty by a jury of defrauding customers and lenders. A tentative sentencing date of March 28, 2024, has been set, with legal experts suggesting a potential prison term of 15-20 years, despite a theoretical maximum of 115 years. Meanwhile, Caroline Ellison, CEO of Alameda Research, Gary Wang, co-founder of FTX, and Nishad Singh, FTX engineering chief, are likely to receive little to no prison time for their cooperation, according to legal experts. All three admitted to participating in fraudulent activities under Bankman-Fried’s direction, involving the transfer of billions of dollars in FTX customer funds to Alameda, a hedge fund mostly owned by Bankman-Fried. However, they may still face other consequences. The government could demand the return of ill-gotten gains and order restitution payments to victims. Given the government’s claim that FTX customers suffered losses in the billions, the financial burden on the three witnesses could be substantial.
More recently, debtors of FTX raised concerns over the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) claim of $24 billion in taxes, warning that it could impede the return of customer funds. As reported, the debtors argued that their earnings were nowhere near the amount claimed by the IRS, and instead, they incurred substantial losses. “These cases present a zero-sum game,” lawyers representing the bankrupt exchange stated.
