Bankrupt crypto exchange

Repayment to aggrieved FTX customers approved

The FTX plan provides for customers to receive at least 118 percent of the value of their accounts as of November 2022.

(Bild: APA/Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP)

A US court gave the green light on Monday for the resolution plan of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX. This will allow the company to pay back around 16 billion dollars in assets to aggrieved customers that have been secured since the collapse of the crypto exchange.

The FTX plan stipulates that customers will receive at least 118 percent of the value of their accounts as of November 2022 - the date the company filed for bankruptcy.

Customer reaction to the plan has been mixed. Many expressed disappointment that FTX's bankruptcy meant they missed out on the sharp upswing in crypto prices since the market bottomed out in 2022. Some customers had objected to the plan and demanded higher refunds reflecting the recent rise in cryptocurrency values.

Billions embezzled
FTX, once one of the world's leading trading venues for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, went bankrupt around two years ago. The collapse of FTX shook the crypto world at the time. The founder of the exchange, Sam Bankman-Fried, will have to spend the next few decades behind bars. In the billion-dollar fraud trial against him, the judge in charge set the sentence at 25 years in March.

The jury considered it proven that Bankman-Fried, known for his appearances in jeans and a T-shirt as well as his distinctive mop of hair, had embezzled eight billion dollars of client money out of pure greed in order to speculate and finance his lavish lifestyle.