The FTX emblem on a laptop computer display screen.
Andrey Rudakov | Bloomberg by way of Getty Images
The Securities Commission of The Bahamas says it seized $3.5 billion price of cryptocurrency from collapsed crypto trade FTX.
In a media release late Thursday, the watchdog confirmed the whole sum taken from FTX’s Bahamian subsidiary, FTX Digital Markets, and added that the funds have been moved into its personal digital wallets “for safekeeping.”
The regulator had previously confirmed it was holding some of FTX’s digital assets however didn’t specify the quantity.
The funds have been valued at greater than $3.5 billion, based mostly on market pricing on the time of switch, based on the fee. The switch occurred on Nov. 12, the day after FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection within the U.S.
The Bahamian securities fee stated the funds are being held on a “temporary basis” till it is directed by the Bahamas’ Supreme Court to ship them to clients and collectors, or to liquidators of the insolvency property.
The regulator stated it took the funds after receiving info from Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX’s disgraced co-founder, regarding cyberattacks on the methods of FTX’s Bahamian unit.
There was “significant risk of imminent dissipation” of the assets below FTX Digital Markets’ management, it stated.
After FTX filed for chapter, it was focused in a suspected hack that noticed $477 million drained from the agency’s crypto wallets. The identification of the perpetrator just isn’t but recognized.
The Bahamian regulator has been scrutinized over its function within the FTX collapse and subsequent authorized proceedings.
The fee wished to deal with insolvency proceedings for FTX within the Bahamas. But FTX’s U.S. legal professionals contested the transfer, alleging that it coordinated with Bankman-Fried to switch FTX digital assets to its personal custody.
U.S. legal professionals for FTX had refused to present liquidators appointed by the Bahamian court docket entry to the corporate’s laptop methods, saying: “We do not trust the Bahamian government.”
FTX’s former CEO Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas and subsequently extradited to the United States, the place he’s awaiting trial on charges of fraud, conspiracy to commit cash laundering and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and violate marketing campaign finance legal guidelines.
He was released last week on $250 million bail, and has reportedly been receiving guests in his California household dwelling, together with “The Big Short” writer Michael Lewis.
Bankman-Fried is predicted to be arraigned and enter a plea in federal court docket in Manhattan on Jan. 3.