Sam Bankman-Fried Remains Firm That FTX US Is Still Solvent

As the bankruptcy proceedings for fallen the crypto exchange FTX continues, the disgraced owner Sam Bankman-Fried has reiterated his stand that the FTX US crypto exchange “was and is solvent.”

During a statement on Tuesday, January 17, SBF noted that FTX US has “hundreds of millions of dollars in excess of customer balances”. On the other hand, as part of the bankruptcy process, FTX debtors have been arguing that “there is a substantial shortfall of digital assets at both” FTX.com and FTX US.

But in his 1000-word statement, Bankman-Fried has argued that they have made a mistake in their tally of assets. Conor Grogan, a director at Coinbase said that tens of millions of funds have been funneled out of FTX US. In his recent Twitter message, he wrote:

From November 9th until withdrawals were halted a few days later, traders may have used a questionable FTXUS redemption system to funnel 10s of millions of out the exchange This may complicate bankruptcy proceedings and further call into question FTX->FTXUS separation claims.

Responding to this, SBF wrote: “I’m fairly confident that FTX US’s excess cash on hand is much larger than the size of the wrapped asset issue to the extent there is one”.

FTX Recovers $5 Billion In Funds

Last week, crypto exchange FTX announced that they have recovered $5 billion worth of liquid assets. This comes as a major relief to the more than one million customers of FTX who have had their funds frozen since the implosion of the exchange in November 2022.

SBF has been currently on bail in the US and has been wearing an electronic bracelet while living in his parents’ home in California. SBF has been accused of misusing customers’ funds at FTX in order to recover personal expenses and other real-estate purchases. The bankruptcy proceedings will put more light on the funds with FTX US.