Summary:
Disgraced crypto tycoon Sam Bankman-Fried reiterated that FTX US, the American division of his bankrupt international crypto exchange, remains solvent with enough cash and assets to make customers whole.
Bankman-Fried argued against court records filed by legal firm Sullivan & Cromwell which claimed that the U.S. exchange had a shortfall and was insolvent. The documents filed by Sullivan & Cromwell directly contrast SBF’s rhetoric of healthy financial holdings at FTX US.
S&C claims that FTX US has a shortfall. That claim is false. Based on S&C’s own data provided in the same court presentation, FTX US had roughly $609m of assets ($428m USD in bank accounts, plus $181m of tokens) backing roughly $199m of customer balances. FTX US was solvent when it was turned over to S&C, and almost certainly remains solvent today.
In his second Substack post after a “pre-mortem” analysis on January 12, Sam Bankman-Fried once again opined that FTX US was solvent when he handed over to the bankruptcy team on November 12. SBF also noted that the U.S. platform holds at least $111 million of excess cash and over $350 million to cover customer deposits.
“Customers should be given access to their funds,” said Sam Bankman-Fried in his latest Substack post, expressing annoyance that users have not received their crypto and assets. Notably, Bankman-Fried also said there isn’t enough information to actually prove that.
The bankrupt crypto exchange reported that about $181 million in liquid assets from the American exchange have been identified so far. Of the total sum, $88 million was moved to cold storage wallet controlled by debtors.
Around $3 million was also earmarked for cold storage, said the bankruptcy team. About $90 million remains unaccounted for at press time.
Previous reports stated
that around $5 billion in cash, crypto, and securities were recovered. However, it remains unclear if this figure includes nearly $400 million stolen from the exchange, $3.5 billion in the hands of Bahamian authorities, and roughly $450 million worth of Robinhood shares seized by the U.S. Department of Justice.