FTX Japan President ‘Keeps Schedule’ for Return of Customer Assets in February

To resume withdrawal of customer funds

FTX Japan, the Japanese subsidiary of the bankrupt crypto asset (virtual currency) exchange FTX, sent an email on the 17th asking users to check their account balances in order to resume withdrawals of customer assets in February. It became clear.

Withdrawals to customers will resume “very soon,” according to FTX Japan president Seth Melamed in an interview with Bloomberg on Feb. 18. In addition, according to an email distributed on the 17th, it will be possible to transfer assets to Liquid Japan accounts acquired by FTX.

On December 29, 2022, the company announced that it plans to resume withdrawals of customer assets that have been frozen (suspension of withdrawals) due to the bankruptcy of its parent company FTX Global by mid-February 2023.

In an email sent on the 16th, FTX Japan said it would send emails to affected users in order to request balance confirmation for asset transfer.

Melamed told Bloomberg on the 18th that he was “confident in adhering to the timeline,” adding that he would “announce the resumption of withdrawals once we have sufficient data on the balance transfer and relevant approvals.” ” adds.

According to previous reports, it is expected that withdrawals and withdrawals of assets will be possible from Liquid Japan at the same time as the asset transfer becomes possible. In 2022, FTX Trading acquired Liquid and its subsidiary QUOINE Co., Ltd. and changed the company name to FTX Japan.

connection:FTX Japan to return customer assets by mid-February next year

Management system of FTX Japan

More than 130 FTX Group companies filed for bankruptcy in the United States in November 2022. Since then, FTX Japan has provided regular reports on the status of customer asset management under the supervision of the Financial Services Agency.

According to the materials disclosed on December 26, 2010, all 14 stocks handled, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), store more than the customer’s assets in custody. In addition, the company announced that it manages a fiat currency balance of approximately 6.3 billion yen, which is approximately 300 million yen more than the customer’s deposit assets.

We conducted segregated management in accordance with the strict rules set by the Financial Services Agency and Japanese law, and managed the amount in excess of the assets in custody on the cold wallet, minimizing the impact of FTX Global and smoothing the transaction ahead of other countries. It seems that the return process has progressed.

FTX’s current CEO, John J. Ray III, has pointed out that the global version of FTX.com’s customer assets were mixed with those of its market-making sister company, Alameda Research.

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has denied the charges, but former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and others have pleaded guilty to criminal charges, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud against FTX customers. cooperating.

connection:FTX US Hearings Reveal Extremely Poor Management, Criminality

FTX is currently in competitive bids for the sale of four businesses, including the FTX Japan service. At least 41 companies are known to be interested in FTX Japan, and the bidding process has been extended by about a month to 19 April in an effort to extract favorable terms.

In addition to FTX Japan, FTX Europe, derivatives exchange LedgerX, and clearing and custody platform Embed are expected to be sold. The four businesses were regulated and had a higher level of business independence than other group companies, so the sale process was relatively easy, the company said.

connection:FTX Japan’s business sale auction, bidding deadline extended