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Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX has introduced a revised plan aimed at returning more than 90% of creditor holdings that were held at the exchange prior to its November 2022 collapse.
The debtors' group responsible for overseeing the bankruptcy process plans to formally file the proposal with a U.S. Bankruptcy Court by December 16, 2023, according to a statement released on Monday.
“The FTX Debtors estimate that customers of FTX.com and FTX US would receive, collectively, over 90% of distributable value worldwide if the Amended Plan [...] is approved by the Bankruptcy Court by the end of the second quarter of 2024,” reads the statement.
For FTX.com, this estimated value is $8.9 billion, while for FTX.US, it is $166 million.
(4/4) All creditor representatives involved agreed to support a related amended Plan of Reorganization to be filed by 12/16/23: https://t.co/qAp9kxXNEP
— FTX (@FTX_Official) October 17, 2023
Commenting on the proposed settlement of the customer property issues, FTX CEO John. J. Ray III, who also helms the FTX Debtors, described it as “another major milestone in our case.
"Together, starting in the most challenging financial disaster I have seen, the debtors and their creditors have created enormous value from a situation that easily could have been a near-total loss for customers,” said John. J. Ray III.
Another notable aspect of the plan is the potential exclusion of "insiders, affiliates, customers" who may have had knowledge of the commingling and misuse of customer deposits and corporate funds, or those who altered their Know Your Customer (KYC) information to facilitate withdrawals when the exchange halted operations.
The proposal suggests that the payouts for these customers may not reflect the fair value of the FTX Debtors' claims.
Decrypt has reached out to FTX for additional comments and will update this article should we hear back.
Breaking down the FTX proposal
Under the proposed plan, missing customer assets would be divided into three distinct pools based on the circumstances at the beginning of the Chapter 11 cases. The pools include assets set aside for FTX.com customers, assets for FTX.US customers, and a "General Pool" for other miscellaneous assets.
Customers with a preference settlement amount of less than $250,000 would be able to accept the settlement without any reduction in their claim or payment. The preference settlement is defined as 15% of customer withdrawals on the exchange nine days before its collapse.
Creditors would also receive a "Shortfall Claim"—a claim for the portion of losses not covered by an insurance policy or other contractual agreement—against the general pool, corresponding to the estimated value of missing assets at the exchange.
However, “the FTX Debtors currently anticipate that customers of both exchanges will not be paid in full, with greater percentage losses by customers of FTX.com,” says the amended plan of customer recoveries.
Explaining the move, the debtor’s group said that “the customer property litigation asserted that customers of FTX.com and FTX US had property interests in certain assets, rather than an unsecured claim ranking equally with general creditors.”
The shortfall settlement is designed to resolve the dispute “by providing customers a claim against the FTX Debtors that, although unsecured, has an equitable priority to certain property segregated at or taken from the exchanges,” said the proposal.