Alameda Research claims to have $10 billion to $50 billion in liabilities as part of a bankruptcy filing.
Crypto exchange ftx filed for bankruptcy in the United States, Bahamas-based ftx said Friday.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO and founder, has also stepped down, but will “help with an orderly transition.” John Ray III will become CEO. Ray, it appears, is the same individual who previously oversaw the Enron Corporation insolvency proceedings.
“We have a long stretch of hard work ahead of us in the near term, but we’re hopeful,” Ray told employees in an email verified by CoinDesk. The bankruptcy filing, he said, was “the beginning of a better path.”
Alameda Research reportedly had between $10 billion and $50 billion in liabilities and around $50 billion in assets, according to a bankruptcy filing. “Unsecured creditors” are likely to receive funds after the bankruptcy filing.
A press release from the FTX Group, FTX.com, FTX US, and Alameda Research, all of which are part of the FTX Group, claims that FTX Group, including FTX.com, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. The FTX Group, which includes FTX.com, FTX US, and Alameda Research, is listed as having filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings are filed if the company plans to reorganize its operations, rather than Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings, which liquidate assets.
Companies filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy can keep operating as usual.
He said that he was gathering all of the details, but when things unraveled the way they did earlier this week, he was shocked. He promised to post a more detailed account soon.
All of FTX Digital Markets, FTX Australia, FTX Express Pay, and LedgerX (which does business as FTX US Derivatives) are not included, according to the release.
“The FTX Group has valuable assets that can only be effectively administered in an organized, joint process,”Ray said in a statement. “I want to ensure every employee, customer, creditor, contract party, stockholder, investor, governmental authority and other stakeholder that we will conduct this effort with diligence, thoroughness and transparency.”
Events have been “fast-paced” and the new team just began, he said.
Bitcoin lost more than $1,000 in minutes after hearing of the failure, sinking to $16,500.
Bankman-Fried said earlier this week that Binance had agreed to purchase FTX, but Binance later withdrew from the negotiation and announced a partnership with Justin Sun to backstop TRX-based tokens. Bankman-Fried did not provide details about the deal at the time of the statement.
Though US withdrawals remained unaffected, FTX paused withdrawals in Bahamas at regulators’ behest and began announcing certain other jurisdictions had begun some partial withdrawals over the last several hours.
Following the bankruptcy filing, BitPesa, Blockfolio, Alameda, and other local companies were listed as creditors.
