$3.5 billion in FTX assets held by Bahamas securities regulator | FTX

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The Bahamas securities regulator says it has seized $3.5 billion (£2.9 billion) worth of assets from failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX and plans to return them to creditors and former customers.

The Bahamas Securities Commission said it has transferred all digital assets under the custody or control of FTX Digital Markets, a Bahamian subsidiary of FTX operation, to its own digital wallets for “safety.”

The transfer took place on November 12, the day after FTX’s broader business, which consists of dozens of subsidiaries and trading arm Alameda Research, filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States.

In a statement, the authority said: “The digital assets were transferred on November 12, 2022 to digital wallets under exclusive control. [of] The commission is held by the commission on an interim basis, until such time as the Bahamas Supreme Court directs the commission to turn it over to clients and creditors who own it.” Assets can also be released to clients and creditors via the company’s liquidators, she added.

The commission said the assets were valued at more than $3.5 billion, “based on market prices at the time of transfer,” without giving further details on the types of digital assets it seized.

FTX, once one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, collapsed in November as customers rushed to withdraw billions of dollars from the company amid concerns about the true state of its balance sheet.

The company’s founder and former CEO, Sam Bankman Fried, who was based in the Bahamas, was later charged in the United States with fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and violating campaign finance laws. He was extradited to the US last week and released on $250 million bail.

Bankman-Fried, 30, is expected to file a plea to those charges in New York federal court on January 3.

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Caroline Ellison, former CEO of FTX’s sister company, Alameda hedge fund, has agreed to plead guilty to seven counts including wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering.

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