FTX estate to start distributing more than $5B on May 30

More than two-and-a-half years after filing for bankruptcy, cryptocurrency exchange FTX is moving forward with repaying users who have not had access to their funds.

In a May 15 notice, the FTX Recovery Trust announced that it would begin disbursing funds to the second group of parties eligible under the exchange’s reorganization plan. Starting on May 30, FTX will send more than $5 billion to creditors “within 1 to 3 business days” through crypto firms BitGo and Kraken. 

In accordance with the reorganization plan, FTX said five groups of “convenience classes” would receive between 54% and 120% distribution of assets. The repayment schedule for the next class of creditors will be “announced in due course,” and the debtors were expected to pay up to $16 billion if all claims were filed.

FTX began its first round of reimbursements on Feb. 18, which was estimated to repay roughly $1.2 billion to creditors. Though former FTX users will likely be seeing their funds for the first time since the exchange collapsed in November 2022, many have criticized the reorganization plan for basing disbursement on the prices of cryptocurrencies at the time of bankruptcy.

Related: FTX EU creditors can now withdraw money from Backpack exchange

Since the end of 2022, the price of Bitcoin has risen more than 400%, from roughly $20,000 to more than $100,000 at the time of publication. According to the recovery plan, 98% of creditors are expected to receive at least 118% of their initial claim value in cash.

Criminal cases already wrapped, nearing the end

The estate’s announcement came more than a year after former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried was found guilty at trial and sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in misusing customer funds. Former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO Ryan Salame pleaded guilty and were sentenced to two and seven-and-a-half years in prison, respectively.

FTX engineering director Nishad Singh and co-founder Gary Wang also pleaded guilty and were sentenced to time served. However, Salame’s wife, Michelle Bond, while potentially not directly involved in the exchange’s activities, still faces campaign finance charges in New York.

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