John Ray, Chief Executive Officer of FTX Cryptocurrency Derivatives Exchange, arrives in bankruptcy court in Wilmington, Delaware, Tuesday, November 22, 2022.
Eric Lee | Bloomberg | Getty Images
FTX has over $5 billion in cash and cash equivalents
The news comes after federal prosecutors announced plans to seize at least $500 million worth of assets as part of their ongoing prosecution of FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried.
The rebound will be a welcome boon for FTX clients after the crypto exchange imploded in November. FTX’s new CEO, John J. Ray, previously confirmed that the “worst” case of corporate control he’s ever faced left at least $8 billion in client assets unaccounted for.
The $5 billion figure does not include illiquid cryptocurrency assets, FTX attorney Adam Landis told the court. He said the company’s holdings are so large that a sale would significantly affect the market and lower their value.
One of the reasons why FTX collapsed was that illiquid assets were not properly valued in the market. FTX executives, including Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison, CEO of Alameda Research, borrowed against the value of FTX-issued token FTT. Alameda controlled the vast majority of FTT coins in circulation, similar to a public company, and could not have liquidated their position at full book value.
Correction: This article has been updated to reflect that FTX attorney Adam Landis told the court that the $5 billion figure does not include illiquid cryptocurrency assets.
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