Reuters
Creditors of collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX are set to receive up to $16.5bn (£12.6bn) under a bankruptcy plan approved in the US on Monday .
The deal will end a saga that began when the company went bankrupt in November 2022, leaving millions of customers around the world without access to their accounts.
Last year, former boss Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted of stealing client funds before the collapse and later sentenced to 25 years in prison.
The deal will allow former customers to recover a sum worth approximately 119% of what they had in their accounts at the time of bankruptcy, according to FTX.
Creditors should receive their funds 60 days after the plan is declared effective. This date has not yet been agreed.
John J Ray III, the lawyer appointed to manage FTX's bankruptcy process and its current chief executive, said approval of the plan was an “important step” in the company's efforts to return money to people and businesses in more than 200 jurisdictions. across the world.
“Moving forward, we are prepared to return 100% of bankruptcy claim amounts plus interest to non-governmental creditors through what will be the largest and most complex distribution of assets in the bankruptcy estate history,” he said in a statement.
When FTX declared bankruptcy in late 2022, approximately $8 billion in customer funds were reported missing, not including debts to investors and others.
Mr. Ray's team has since recovered assets worth between $14.7 billion and $16.5 billion, in part by selling off FTX's remaining assets, such as its investment in artificial intelligence company Anthropic .
The agreement reached with the bankruptcy court allows the company to repay its customers before other unsecured creditors such as the government.
It received a mixed reception from some former customers. Some have suggested that the cash refund would not match the loss of crypto securities that would be worth much more today if they had not been stolen.
The value of bitcoin has more than tripled since November 2022.
