FTX Gets Revamp Proposals From 3 Bidders

FTX received multiple proposals from bidders hoping to resurrect the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange.

Investment banker Kevin Cofsky of Perella Weinberg Partners said during a Tuesday (Oct. 24) court hearing that at least three bidders are in contention to purchase FTX, CoinDesk reported Wednesday (Oct. 25).

A decision on the new owner could come by mid-December, pending approval from the bankruptcy court, according to the report. Cofsky’s testimony helped a bid to keep the platform’s 9 million-plus customer list secret, as this information could prove valuable to a potential buyer.

“We’ve narrowed the field from a large number to a smaller number in what we’re calling our second round,” Cofsky testified, referring to the bidders, per the report. “I am optimistic that we will have either a plan for a reorganized exchange, a partnership agreement or a stalking horse for a sale, on or prior to the Dec. 16 milestone date.”

FTX declared bankruptcy nearly a year ago following revelations of a shortfall in its balance sheet, part of what prosecutors have called one of the largest white-collar frauds in American history.

The man at the center of the company’s collapse, founder and ex-CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, has been on trial for fraud for much of this month.

He is due to start arguing his defense later this week, following a five-day break from the proceedings that ended with testimony from Can Sun, who had been FTX’s general counsel at the time of the collapse.

Sun told jurors that in the days leading to the bankruptcy, Bankman-Fried asked him to come up with legal justifications for why the company was missing billions of dollars in customer funds.

Financial statements showed that FTX was billions of dollars shy of being able to meet its customer withdrawals and that it had loaned billions more to sister trading firm, Alameda, via an allegedly illegal backdoor.

Meanwhile, FTX’s current management said last week that it had a plan to give customers more than 90% of their funds.

According to court records, debtors want to divide missing customer assets into three pools: one for FTX.com customers, one for FTX.US customers and a “general pool” of other assets.

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