Report: FTX Billings Suggest More Work on Potential Reboot

FTX CEO John Ray III reportedly spent 6.7 hours in April on tasks related to a potential reboot of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange.

Ray, who was appointed to manage the firm during its bankruptcy, included those hours on his billing report for the month, citing “2.0,” which is thought to refer to FTX 2.0, CoinDesk reported Tuesday (May 23).

The monthly staffing report and compensation report released Monday (May 22) includes references to reviewing and commenting on “2.0 next steps,” “2.0 reboot,” “2.0 communications,” “2.0 bidder list” and “FTX restart.”

There is no evidence of concrete plans to restart the exchange, but both Ray and FTX’s lead attorney, Andy Dietderich, have said in recent months that it is a possibility that has not been ruled out, according to the report.

At the same time, industry observers have said that the FTX platform had technical issues even before the company went bankrupt, that it would be as easy to build a new exchange as to fix the existing one, and that there is baggage connected to the FTX name, the report said.

Previous legal bills have also shown that the FTX team is exploring rebooting the crypto exchange.

As PYMNTS reported in April, Ray is tasked with creating as much value as possible for the bankrupt exchange’s creditors, including assessing whether undertaking a revival of FTX would create more value than just selling off the company’s existing assets.

Whether or not Ray decides to move forward with bringing FTX’s operations back to life, the firm’s lawyers are billing for their hours of work assessing any restart’s viability.

In addition, it was reported in April that venture capital (VC) firm Tribe Capital is interested in joining a potential reboot of FTX’s crypto exchange.

The VC firm is considering leading a $250 million fundraising campaign after its co-founder met with a committee of unsecured creditors of FTX in January, Bloomberg reported April 18, citing unnamed sources.

Tribe Capital’s informal proposal discussed in January would exclude a VC portfolio, crypto assets and some other assets, and would include a new exchange that would use the FTX name, according to the report.