According to a report from Wednesday, April 12th, FTX is considering the reopening of its exchange as soon as the second quarter of this year. The move has been under consideration for months and comes after several reports that the bankruptcy team has managed to stabilize the situation and recover some of the missing assets.
FTX Considers a Q2 Reopening
At a hearing held on Wednesday, FTX attorney Andy Dietderich stated that the bankruptcy management team has managed to stabilize the situation enough for the company to restart its operations. He also stated that total assets recovered since January amount to $7.3 billion—an $800 million increase from the last report.
The idea of restarting FTX’s operation has been in circulation for months. Last year, not long after stepping down from his role as the CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried expressed his belief that such a move could significantly help in making users whole. In January, John J. Ray III, the company’s current CEO, started “paying lip service” to the idea of a reopening.
Today’s news of a potential reopening sent FTX’s FTT token surging after several months of remaining relatively dormant. At the time of writing, the token was up around 70% and stood at around $2.34. FTT played a crucial role in the collapse of FTX after it was revealed that much of the company’s liquidity was locked with it.
Deltec Ordered to Repay the $53 Million Loan it Received From Alameda
In a Wednesday ruling, Judge John Dorsey ordered the Cayman Islands-based company Deltec to repay a $53 million loan it had received from Alameda Research in 2021. Furthermore, Deltec is ordered to pay a daily interest of more than $10,000 after seven days have expired since the entry of the order. The original loan to the Cayman Islands company was made in the stablecoin USDT and approved by FTX’s executive Ryan Salame.
FTX’s bankruptcy management team has been working for months on what CEO John J. Ray III has called a “Herculean effort” to retrieve billion of dollars worth of missing assets. Ray repeatedly discussed FTX’s horrendous record-keeping practices and the most recent report indicates that the company’s previous administration was regularly “misplacing” tens of millions worth of assets.
The company’s current management has also taken several decisive steps when it comes to asset recovery. Last year, they hired forensic investigators hoping they would help in the search for the missing money. Alameda Research, one of the bankrupt firms under the FTX Group, also recently filed a lawsuit against DCG’s Grayscale in an effort to recover “at least” $9 billion.
Do you think FTX will really reopen in Q2 2023? Let us know in the comments below.