Author: Joanna Wright Source: dlnews Translation: Shan Ouba, Golden Finance
FTX Exchange is expected to raise up to $16 billion to return to creditors. This is good news for investors, who were once worried about losing all their money.
According to FTX's bankruptcy reorganization plan, if the plan is approved by the court, investors will have the opportunity to get their principal back and receive 9% interest.
However, after carefully reading this 90-page distribution plan and its 163-page explanatory document, we found that whether FTX victims can get the interest depends on an important question: Will the US government give priority to ordinary investors in getting paid?
Review of events:
FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange founded by former genius Sam Bankman-Fried, suffered a run at the end of 2022.
Then a shocking scandal broke out: FTX misappropriated customer funds and mixed them with its own funds for political donations, celebrity endorsements, and the purchase of luxury properties.
After FTX declared bankruptcy, law enforcement and government agencies such as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) also joined the investigation.
The CFTC has now claimed $8.7 billion in fines from FTX, and the IRS has demanded $24 billion in back taxes.
According to U.S. bankruptcy law, the order in which creditors are paid is crucial. Ordinary creditors want to be first in line because funds may be limited and cannot meet the demands of all creditors.
FTX currently requires the CFTC, IRS and any government agencies that may have claims on FTX assets to rank their claims behind ordinary investors, so that investors can be paid first.
The question is:
Will the US government give up billions of dollars in fines and the opportunity to "save face" after regulatory mistakes?
What’s more, it’s understood that the majority of FTX’s depositors (79%) aren’t even based in the U.S.
Angry victims
It’s unclear what the final outcome will be. Interestingly, though, FTX’s interest payments appear to be an attempt to appease angry victims.
Many of FTX’s creditors hate the proposed distribution plan because they won’t be paid in Bitcoin and Ethereum, but in cash based on the dollar value of its cryptocurrencies on November 11, 2022, the day FTX filed for bankruptcy. That day, the price of Bitcoin was more than 70% lower than it is today. That’s really depressing.
They won’t be able to enjoy the historic rally in the cryptocurrency market this year, which has even seen Bitcoin hit a new all-time high.
While some customers insist they were defrauded, one question remains: Can they get their money back at the price of Bitcoin when it crashes in 2022?