FTX: Bahamas Seized Digital Assets Without Authorization

FTX claimed the Securities Commission of The Bahamas seized its digital assets without authorization.

The firm and its affiliated debtors — together referred to as the FTX Debtors — said in a Friday (Dec. 30) press release that cryptocurrency transferred from the firm on Nov. 12 belongs to the FTX Debtors, was taken without authorization and must be returned.

According to the release, “the FTX Debtors will seek the return of the seized cryptocurrency promptly to their chapter 11 estates for the benefit of creditors.”

The FTX Debtors group also wants an accounting of the assets that were seized, as the value announced by the commission does not match the figure the organization has calculated itself, based on the evidence that it currently has in its possession.

As PYMNTS reported Friday, the Bahamas’ Securities Commission announced Thursday (Dec. 29) that it had seized $3.5 billion from FTX on Nov. 12, one day after FTX filed for bankruptcy protection in United States federal court.

The regulator said the cryptocurrency funds were moved from FTX Digital Markets (FTXDM) — the company’s subsidiary in the Bahamas — and transferred to the commission’s digital wallets in order to protect FTXDM customers and creditors as well as the public interest.

Referring to the press release in which the commission announced this seizure, the FTX Debtors said in its own release that while the commission said the crypto in its custody was worth more than $3.5 billion at the time of the transfer, the FTX Debtors’ own calculation of the value of the assets that it knows were taken was just $296 million at that time — assuming those assets could have been sold at all.

“The [commission’s] press release did not identify the type of cryptocurrency seized or the valuation methodology, and the Bahamas Commission has not provided the FTX Debtors any further information to resolve the valuation disparity,” the organization said in its press release. “The FTX Debtors urge the Bahamas Commission to clear up any confusion created by their recent statements and provide the public with accurate information concerning the cryptocurrency seized and how it was valued for the purposes of these statements.”

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