FTX Paves the Way for Reviving Crypto Exchange, Benefitting Worldwide Customers

Defunct crypto exchange FTX has proposed to organize its creditors into different classes of claimants, and has provided a pathway for one class of claimants to restart the FTX exchange with third-party investors – should the group agree to it.

The filing, posted Monday night U.S. time, delineates the claimants into various groups. The first group is claimants of FTX.com offshore exchange, which it calls “dotcom customers”, next is customers of the U.S. exchange (“U.S. customers”), after, customers of its NFT exchange, then general unsecured claims, secured claims, and subordinated claims. Included in general claims are those from Alameda’s lenders or trading partners, while subordinated claims are taxes and fines from penalties.

The priority of these claims will be determined according to the "waterfall priorities," and each class would get a pro-rata payout in what’s left of the pool after the preceding class is finished. The specific order of payout is determined following negotiations with stakeholders.

Members of the Dotcom claimants category – former customers of FTX.com – may opt to pool their assets to create what it calls an “offshore exchange company” or a “rebooted” platform not available in the U.S.

“Rather than all cash, the Debtors may determine that the Offshore Exchange Company remit non-cash consideration to the Dotcom Customer Pool in the form of equity securities, tokens or other interests in the Offshore Exchange Company, or rights to invest in such equity securities, tokens or other interests,” the document reads, suggesting that the debtors could forgo a cash payout for a stake in the new exchange.

Possible reboots of FTX have been hinted at before, with billings from interim CEO John Ray III filed in May referencing “FTX restart” or a “2.0 reboot”.

Singapore-based Wassielawyer, an anthropomorphic penguin-crypto Twitter legal personality, noted that the proposed restructuring plan does not include an allowance for holders of FTT.

The token was called a security by the SEC in a December complaint filed against FTX co-founder Gary Wang and former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison.

“No Holder of an FTT Claim shall receive any Distributions on account of its FTT Claim. On and after the Effective Date, all FTT Claims shall be canceled, released, and extinguished and shall be of no further force and effect, whether surrendered for cancelation or otherwise,” the document reads.

FTT is up 10.5% and trading at $1.50, according to CoinDesk market data.