In mid-November, the Securities Commission of The Bahamas announced that it ordered all contents of FTX’s crypto wallets to be transferred to a wallet controlled by it. Per the commission, “urgent interim regulatory action” was important to “protect the interests of clients and creditors.”
The securities regulator also stated that it will engage with other regulators and authorities in multiple jurisdictions going forward to address matters affecting the creditors, clients, and stakeholders of FTX Digital Markets [FDM] globally to obtain “the best” possible outcome.
Read More: Bahamas Securities Regulator Takes Full Control of FTX’s Digital Assets
Regulator Looking To Deliver FTX Assets To Customers, Creditors
The regulator reaffirmed on Thursday that it is holding the company’s assets worth $3.5 billion on a temporary basis. Specifically, the pricing is based on the market rate at the time of transfer. The commission intends to deliver them to customers and creditors who actually own them.
Also Read: FTX Used $200M Of Customer Funds For Venture Deals
Additionally, after the completion of the transfer in November, FTX founders Sam Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang lost access to the assets. Christina Rolle, Executive Director of the commission, explicitly confirmed the same in an affidavit filed with the Bahamas Supreme Court. Rolle said,
“All transferred assets were and remain under the sole control of the commission.”
Furthermore, FTX lawyers opposed a demand for internal records from its Bahamian business earlier this month. They particularly said that they “do not trust” the Bahamian government with data that could be used to siphon off the company’s assets.
Meanwhile, Bahamian authorities appointed liquidators to wind FTX’s international trading business after the company announced bankruptcy.
In another recent FTX-related development, the exchange’s owned platform Liquid announced its plans to return customer assets in 2023. The official announcement published recently outlined the platform’s intention to develop a system to allow withdrawals by customers of FTX Japan and Liquid Japan.
Read More: FTX-Owned Japanese Exchange Hopes to Return Customer Assets in 2023