Those payments would come from a pool of assets that FTX’s lawyers amassed in the 17 months following the stock market’s collapse, the lawyers said. They tapped a wide range of sources, including digital currencies that FTX still owned when it filed for bankruptcy and company assets, like shares of start-ups, that could be sold to buyers.
How much FTX recovered is “generally pretty unknown,” said Yesha Yadav, a law professor at Vanderbilt University. “It’s something that’s really quite astonishing for a major bankruptcy.”
The plan comes with a caveat. The amount owed to customers was based on the value of their holdings at the time of FTX’s bankruptcy in November 2022. This means customers will not benefit from the recent crypto market surge that propelled the price of Bitcoin to a high. record level. . A customer who lost a Bitcoin during the FTX implosion, for example, would be entitled to less than $20,000, even if a Bitcoin is now worth more than $60,000.
It will take months for payments to begin. The plan requires approval from the federal judge overseeing FTX’s bankruptcy, John T. Dorsey. If creditors raise objections to the plan, it could extend the deadline.
