Leon Neal
FTX Trading and its debtors have informed he Bahamas Securities Commission that neither Sam Bankman-Fried, Gary Wang, or the Securities Commission of the Bahamas had a right to take the cryptocurrency of the FTX debtors, it said in a statement late Friday.
Late Thursday, the Securities Commission said it took control of FTX digital assets valued at more than $3.5B as of Nov. 12, because it “determined that there was a significant risk of imminent dissipation” if they stayed under FTX’s control. That statement did not identify the type of digital assets that were seized.
The debtors said they have evidence that ~195M FTT tokens (FTT-USD), 1,938 ethereum (ETH-USD) and other miscellaneous coins with no substantial value were transferred, without their authorization, after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Blockchain information shows that that crypto is being held in a single digital wallet on Fireblocks.
The value of the cryptocurrency at spot prices at the time of transfer was ~$296M, the debtors said, citing etherscan.io. That value, though, assumes that the FTT tokens (FTT-USD) in the wallet could be sold at spot prices at the time. The value of the same crypto at spot prices at 2:00 PM ET on Dec. 30 was ~$167M.
“The FTX Debtors urge the Bahamas Commission to clear up any confusion created by their recent statements and provide the public with accurate information concerning the cryptocurrency seized and how it was valued for the purposes of these statements,” the debtors’ statement said.
Earlier on Friday, FTX Japan and Liquid Japan aim to resume withdrawals in February.
