FTX has received court approval for its bankruptcy plan, which will allow the company to repay customers using $16.5 billion in assets recovered since its collapse in 2022. US Bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey approved the plan, calling FTX's restructuring "a model case" for handling a complex Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The Repayment Plan
The wind-down plan, which was also approved by a majority of creditors, focuses on returning funds to FTX's customers before other competing claims, including those from government regulators. The first wave of repayments will see 98% of customers—those with USD$50,000 or less on the exchange—compensated within 60 days of the plan's effective date, which is still to be determined.
This move is significant for creditors, who were hit hard by the sudden downfall of FTX following revelations that founder Sam Bankman-Fried misappropriated customer funds to cover losses at his hedge fund, Alameda Research. Bankman-Fried is currently serving a 25-year sentence for his involvement (and appealing his conviction and sentence), but FTX’s recovery efforts show that some justice may be on the way for its affected customers.
Payback in Percentages
FTX has indicated that customers will be paid 118% of the value in their accounts based on the account value in November 2022, when the company initially filed for bankruptcy. This is a standard approach in bankruptcy law, but some customers are expressing disappointment as Bitcoin has surged from USD$16,000 at the time of FTX’s collapse to over USD$63,000 today, leaving creditors to argue they are missing out on massive gains in crypto prices.
Lawyer David Adler, representing a group of objecting creditors, stressed the frustration over the discrepancy, stating that it’s difficult for customers to see this as full compensation. However, FTX has clarified that returning the actual crypto holdings is impossible because of the sheer number of assets, and that most of the assets were lost or misappropriated, making direct crypto refunds impossible. In the Mt Gox case in Japan, creditors were finally given Bitcoin as distributions, but the trustee in bankruptcy in that case only had to to deal with a single crypto-currency, and the shareholders of Mt Gox supported a distribution which gives 90% of the Bitcoin recovered to customers.
A Legal and Financial Victory
FTX negotiated with multiple parties, including US regulators like the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS), as well as a Bahamian liquidator, to prioritise customer repayments over government penalties. The cooperation of these agencies and the liquidation team was critical, allowing FTX to push customer repayments ahead of other liabilities like fines and taxes.
FTX's CEO John Ray acknowledged the hard work that went into reconstructing the company’s financials and securing the assets needed for the repayments. Author Michael Lewis, however, has suggested that the hard work was more complicated than needed due to Mr Ray not working with senior executives early in the bankruptcy process. FTX has also raised additional funds through the sale of assets, including investments in tech companies like the AI startup Anthropic.
Looking Ahead
As the FTX bankruptcy gears up to distribute repayments, past customers are watching closely. While some customers may not be satisfied with their recovery amounts, the approval of the wind-down plan offers a significant resolution to one of the most high-profile crypto collapses in history, and given how few insolvencies and bankruptcies end in distributions of any meaningful amount, this outcome will be held up as a successful result for the insolvency industry.
The FTX case underscores the importance of stronger regulatory oversight and more transparent exchange operations. While the crypto market has rebounded significantly since FTX’s collapse, the risks involved when proper governance is lacking have been laid bare by the aftermath of the insolvency.
While the FTX administration’s success in managing this complex bankruptcy will provide lessons for handling future financial crises and has been aided strong asset recoveries, this remarkable result is also the consequence of a significant windfall from rising crypto-assets prices and a booming AI market.
By Steven Pettigrove, Luke Misthos and with Michael Bacina
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