Key Points
- FTX can ask creditors whether they prefer cash or crypto for recovered funds.
- Creditors have until August 16 to vote on the plan.
According to the latest reports, FTX has received court approval to ask credits whether they prefer their refunds in cash under the exchange’s liquidation plan, or in crypto at the current market value.
US Bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey granted FTX the voting plan approval yesterday.
There were more FTX creditors who reportedly expressed their dissatisfaction with the firm’s latest liquidation plan which was previously proposed back in May.
According to the plan, there should be a 118% return for 98% of the creditors (with claims under $50,000) based on the US dollar value of asset prices at the time of the exchange’s bankruptcy filing back in November 2022.
On the other hand, there are a lot of creditors who are seeking a payout in crypto in-kind, which would factor in the crypto market’s 165% increase in total market cap since the FTX collapse. In other words, the lost digital assets are more valuable in 2024 compared to their 2022 value.
Bitcoin was trading around $16,900 when FTX filed for bankruptcy but grew by over 260% to reach today’s price of over $61,000.
Feedback from FTX customers is required
The vote’s purpose is to receive feedback from FTX’s customers who have not been involved in the repayment negotiations just yet, according to FTX’s lawyer Andy Dietderich.
The firm’s lawyers said that bankruptcy laws require the firm to value claims when FTX filed for Chapter 11. Also, lawyers said that the currently proposed cash repayment would be easier to implement.
The reason is the fact that creditors would not be subjected to capital gain tax.
According to the notes, even if creditors vote in favor of in-kind crypto payments, this doesn’t mean that the court will approve the result.
Creditors have until August 16 to vote on the desired plan.
Dorsey will decide whether or not to approve it on October 7, according to the same official notes.
FTX has recovered $11.4 billion in cash since the filing for bankruptcy but the figure is expected to rise to $12.6 billion by October 31 when FTX’s Chapter 11 plan could take effect.
On May 8, we revealed that the crypto exchange has billions of dollars more than needed to cover the financial losses that customers saw back in November 2022 when the exchange collapsed.