FTX Finds $5.5 Billion in Liquid Assets, Still Faces 'Substantial Shortfall'

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ftx-finds-55-billion-in-liquid-assets-still-faces-substantial-shortfall-214947490.html

Collapsed crypto exchange FTX said Tuesday it has identified $5.5 billion of liquid assets, but said based on current estimates both the international and U.S. based exchange still face a "substantial shortfall" from what the trading venues owe customers.

A court document with the restructuring team's most recent findings shows this $5.5 billion includes $1.7 billion of cash, $3.5 billion of crypto assets, and $0.3 billion of securities.

Some $1.7 billion of the company's assets are being held in a "hot wallet," or crypto wallet connected to the internet, typically making it less secure. Major crypto custody provider BitGo is maintaining another $1.1 billion in more secure "cold storage," while the Securities Commission of the Bahamas holds $426 million and FTX Japan has another $140 million.

An additional $415 million was stolen hours after the company filed bankruptcy.

"We are making important progress in our efforts to maximize recoveries, and it has taken a Herculean investigative effort from our team to uncover this preliminary information," John Ray III, FTX's CEO under bankruptcy protection, said in a news release.

Last Wednesday, a lawyer representing FTX told a federal bankruptcy court the restructuring team had located over $5 billion of cash, liquid cryptocurrency, and other liquid investments belonging to the company along with $4.6 billion in non-strategic illiquid investments.

From the time of that hearing through Tuesday 3 p.m. ET, crypto's total market capitalization has risen by $143 billion, or more than 14% to $998 billion from $855 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Securities worth $268 million held by Alameda Research include $197 million in shares of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), $45 million in shares of the Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE), $21 million the Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund (BITW), and $0.1 million in BlackRock (BLK) equity.

Worth $253 million, FTX's total portfolio of Bahamas real estate includes 36 different properties.

FTX also confirmed that, based on current estimates of the amount of digital assets associated with the FTX.com and FTX US exchanges as of the Petition Date, "there is a substantial shortfall of digital assets at both exchanges."

"We ask our stakeholders to understand that this information is still preliminary and subject to change. We will provide additional information as soon as we are able to do so," Ray added in the update.

At press time, bankruptcy claims market XClaim is pricing claims on FTX's crypto deposits at 15.5 cents on the dollar.