FTX Files to Sell Trust Funds From Grayscale and Bitwise Worth $744 Million

As per the court filing last Friday, November 3, bankrupt crypto exchange FTX has filed to sell key Trust funds worth a staggering $744 million. The filing shows that some of the assets are from crypto asset manager Grayscale and custodial service provider Bitwise.

The assets under scrutiny comprise $691 million distributed among five Grayscale Trusts and an additional $53 million under the management of Bitwise.

FTX’s Court Filing

The main purpose for selling these “trust assets” is to facilitate the estates’ preparations for upcoming distributions to creditors and grant FTX the flexibility to sell the assets when the timing is most advantageous.

The court filing notes that combining the sales into a unified process will help reduce costs and streamline the sale procedure by avoiding the need to file separate motions for each proposed sale. The court filing also reads:

“The Debtors’ judgment is that proactively mitigating the risk of price swings will best protect the value of the Trust Assets, thereby maximizing the return to creditors and promoting an equitable distribution of funds in the Debtors’ plan of reorganization.”

The FTX debtors have made a request for the sale of trust assets, seeking approval from an investment adviser. Additionally, they’ve put forth a proposal to include a pricing committee, representing stakeholders, as part of the sale process.

This recent request from FTX debtors follows the court’s previous approval for the liquidation of approximately $3.4 billion in cryptocurrency assets. The court had directed the sale of these assets in increments of $50 million and $100 million to prevent any disruptive market sell-offs.

SBF’s To Face A Long Jail Term

Last week, the US court convicted FTX’s disgraced founder Sam Bankman-Fried for defrauding lenders and customers.

A provisional sentencing date has been scheduled for March 28, 2024, with legal analysts speculating on a potential prison sentence ranging from 15 to 20 years, even though the maximum possible sentence could reach 115 years.

In contrast, legal experts anticipate that Caroline Ellison, CEO of Alameda Research, Gary Wang, co-founder of FTX, and Nishad Singh, FTX engineering chief, may receive minimal or no prison time due to their cooperation.