FTX Reviews for May 2024

FTX did not hold back on company expenses in the Bahamas, according to court documents. FTX’s Bahamian company spent a staggering amount of money on luxury hotels and accommodation, flights and food in the nine months before the exchange’s collapse, court filings have revealed. According to bankruptcy court documents reviewed by Business Insider, FTX Digital Markets went through $40 million between last January and September, before filing for bankruptcy in November because of “liquidity issues.” More than $15 million went on luxury hotels and accommodation, with $5.8 million of that at one resort - the Albany Hotel. This is the luxury resort is where Sam Bankman-Fried lived in his $30 million penthouse until his arrest, the report added. Around $3.6 million went on the Grand Hyatt, a four-star hotel that hosted British royalty in March. There was also $800,000 spent at the five-star Rosewood resort. Furthermore, almost $7 million was spent on meals and entertainment, with around half of that on catering services, according to the documents. Nearly $4 million was spent on flights and over $500,000 was spent on postage and delivery.

Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis has attempted to put the FTX collapse into perspective - comparing peak weekly-realized losses in the wake of the exchange’s collapse compared to previous major crypto collapses in 2022. The Dec. 14 report found the depegging of Terra USD (UST) in May saw weekly-realized losses peak at $20.5 billion, while the subsequent collapse of Three Arrows Capital and Celsius in June saw weekly-realized losses peak at $33 billion. In comparison, weekly realized losses during the FTX saga peaked at $9 billion in the week starting Nov. 7, and have been reducing weekly since.

Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX has announced it will be “resuming ordinary” cash payments, salaries and benefits to its remaining employees around the world. The announcement came from new FTX CEO John Ray III on Nov. 28, as the insolvency professional looks to help FTX and its approximated 101 affiliated companies (FTX Debtors) navigate their way through the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. "With the Court's approval of our First Day motions and the work being done on global cash management, I am pleased that the FTX group is resuming ordinary course cash payments of salaries and benefits to our remaining employees around the world.” “FTX also is making cash payments to selected non-U.S. vendors and service providers where necessary to preserve business operations, subject to the limits approved by the Bankruptcy Court,” he added. The announcement comes around 10 days after FTX debtors filed a motion to pay prepetition compensation and benefits to employees and contractors in the Delaware bankruptcy court on Nov. 19, which excludes payments to former FTX CEO and founder Sam Bankman-Fried, along with Gary Wang, Nishad Singh, and Caroline Ellison.

The Busan city administration has signed agreements with multiple crypto firms, including Binance, Huobi Global, Crypto.com, as well as the troubled FTX exchange. The FTX crash appears to have affected not only companies and investors but also entire cities that previously became partners of the troubled cryptocurrency exchange. South Korea’s second-largest city, Busan, is reportedly reconsidering its plans to build a local crypto exchange as a consequence of the FTX collapse, the local news agency Yonhap reported on Nov. 23. The government and financial authorities of Busan have become increasingly concerned about the concept of a public-private digital exchange amid the FTX contagion. “In view of various conditions, it is unreasonable for the city of Busan to promote the establishment of a digital asset exchange,” a Busan City official reportedly stated. The South Korean city has been engaged in establishing a local digital asset exchange for a few months, signing multiple agreements with crypto exchanges. Building such a platform as a public-private partnership model was reportedly a pledge of Busan Mayor Park Hyung-joon.

The new CEO of FTX gave a curt statement in response to the series of intermittent tweets by former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. The new CEO and chief restructuring officer for the bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange, John Ray, has icily responded to the erratic series of tweets from former CEO and founder Sam Bankman-Fried. The official Twitter account of FTX on Nov. 16 tweeted a statement from Ray addressing Bankman-Fried’s recent public statements, reiterating he “has no ongoing role at [FTX], FTX US, or Alameda Research Ltd. and does not speak on their behalf.” On Nov. 14 Bankman-Fried began a strange Twitter thread that — over the course of 40 or so hours - eventually spelled out “What happened” across nine tweets, he then went on to claim he was meeting with regulators, wanting to “do right by customers.” Afterward, he began to lay out the finances and leverage of FTX and its sister trading firm Alameda Research on Nov. 16 claiming FTX’s leverage was around $13 billion, not $5 billion as he originally thought.FTX’s downward spiral kicked off in early November with a series of events eventually leading to the exchange and its roughly 130 global subsidiaries filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States on Nov. 11. John J. Ray III took over as CEO on Nov.11 with FTX’s bankruptcy filings. He has gained notoriety for previously overseeing the bankruptcy of former fraudulent energy giant Enron which had around $63.4 billion in assets and was the largest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history at the time.

The collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange has created a liquidity crisis in the crypto space, which could extend the crypto winter through the end of 2023, according to a research report by Coinbase. According to analysts, the FTX implosion could keep institutional investors at bay because they are even more likely to tread cautiously for some time. The crisis has negatively impacted several crypto-focused companies that have assets stuck on FTX following the company’s bankruptcy filing on Nov. 11. Investors also fear the contagion could spread, causing further damage to the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Although several investors were rattled by the collapse of FTX, billionaire venture capitalist and serial blockchain investor Tim Draper remains bullish on Bitcoin tickers down $16,509. In a Nov.15 interview with Cointelegraph, Draper doubled down on his $250,000 target for Bitcoin in 2023. However, investors should take the price projection with a pinch of salt because it is unlikely that Bitcoin will start a roaring bull market in the near future. What are the key support and resistance levels to watch out for on Bitcoin and altcoins? Let’s study the charts of the top-10 cryptocurrencies to find out.

Tremors from FTX’s collapse reverberate through the scientific community. With Sam Bankman-Fried involved in so many philanthropic ventures, the fallout of FTX could also see a variety of grants and investments being subject to clawbacks or not honored. The fall of crypto exchange FTX appears to have already begun to impact the hundreds of grant recipients across a variety of philanthropic organizations backed by the exchange. During the COVID-19 pandemic, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried became known for backing a number of causes aimed at “humanity’s long-term prospects.” One of these was the FTX Foundation and its FTX Future Fund, which publicly launched on Feb. 28 and reported on June 30 that it had made 262 grants and investments totaling $132 million in projects — many of these involved in pandemic preparedness, among other scientific pursuits. However, the leadership team of the Future Fund announced their resignation on Nov. 11 in a group post noting: “We are devastated to say that it looks likely that there are many committed grants that the Future Fund will be unable to honor.” According to a Nov. 14 report from Science.org, there have been a number of grant recipients now concerned about their future following the FTX collapse, with SecureBio’s co-founder Kevin Esvelt suggesting that the firm is seeking emergency backup funding, stating: “We don’t think it is right that anyone should lose their jobs over a financial calamity totally unrelated to the excellent work they are doing”

Tether, Circle and Coinbase deny having exposure to FTX and Alameda. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said that the recent FTX and Alameda debacle was a result of risky practices such as the misuse of user funds. Amid the liquidity crisis that fell over crypto exchange FTX and trading firm Alameda Research, some of the largest crypto companies face calls for transparency to let users know if there are risks. However, executives assured the community that they do not have exposure to either of the troubled firms. In response to concerns brought up by the crypto community, Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino clarified in a tweet that the stablecoin issuer has no exposure to either of the distressed firms. According to the Tether executive, Alameda has previously redeemed a lot of Tether USDT tickers down $1.00. Despite this, Ardoino highlighted that no credit exposure has matured. Similarly, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire also denied rumors of the firm having exposure to FTX and Alameda. The stablecoin executive said that their firm does not have any material exposure to both firms. Allaire highlighted that while both FTX and Alameda have been customers of Circle, the stablecoin issuer has not made loans, received FTX tokens FTT tickers down $4.03 as collateral or taken any positions on FTT.

FTX - which has overtaken Coinbase to become the second largest centralized exchange in terms of volume — has launched FTX Japan to service its Japanese customers after it acquired the local Liquid crypto exchange in February. Japan has strict rules for crypto exchanges wanting to operate in the country with the commissioner of crypto regulator the Financial Services Agency (FSA) even admitting it makes things “rather tough” for exchanges. FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried said that “Japan is a highly regulated market with a potential market size of almost $1 trillion” for crypto trading. The expansions are in stark contrast to other major crypto firms that are are having to cut staff due to the ongoing bearish conditions. Gemini exchange reportedly plans to cut 10% of its employees due to the unfavorable market conditions, Coinbase also announced in mid-May its slowing hiring to ensure it can weather the dampened market. At the end of April the crypto-friendly trading platform Robinhood fired 9% of its workforce with its stock price at an all-time low as part of a wider market downturn.

FTX, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has become one of the first exchanges to receive an operating license from Dubai’s newly formed crypto regulator VARA. The news comes as rival exchange Binance also obtained a regulatory license from Middle-Eastern country Bahrain. As per a recent report by Bloomberg, the crypto firm is also in talks with Dubai regulators to receive a license. After receiving regulatory approval, FTX also plans to establish regional headquarters in the city, the company said in the press release. Claiming to be the first crypto exchange to receive the license, founder and chief executive of FTX Sam Bankman-Fried commented: “It’s an honor to be one of the first approved applicants in such a specialised category and we are excited to be able to introduce complex crypto-derivatives products with centralised counterparty clearing to institutional markets. FTX receiving this approval is a continuation of our mission to be at the forefront of licensing and regulation around the world.” Dubai recently established a cryptocurrency regulator to issue licenses and oversee the compliance system of crypto service providers operating in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). With this, the renowned city seeks to participate in the design of this new and rapidly growing global sector.

FTX and Huobi have experienced the most dramatic shift in their BTC holdings since last July. Whereas FTX has more than tripled the amount of BTC it holds to 103,200 today, Huobi’s holdings have dwindled to just 12,300 BTC, or around 6% of what it held, from over 400,000 BTC in March 2020. Net outflows have been consistent since last year, with a few major spikes occurring in August and, most recently, on Jan. 11. However, Glassnode attributes the current relatively low inflows to “the scale of market uncertainty at present,” and suggests that the crypto trading market, in general, has shifted to derivatives trading over spot sells in order to hedge risk. Exchange inflows are measured to help give a better understanding of whether investors are preparing to liquidate or hodl their coins. Net inflows show incoming selling pressure whereas net outflows suggests more hodling. The coins that remain on-chain maintain a realized price of $24,100 per BTC, suggesting that most hodlers enjoy a profit margin of 63%. Realized price is the average price of all coins when they were moved on-chain. The realized price contrasts with an implied price of $39,200. The implied price is an estimated fair value price per coin and is currently just below break-even as BTC was trading at $38,346 at the time of writing, according to CoinGecko. Right now, short-term holders are underwater by about 15% as the average price of coins that have moved on-chain in the last 155 days is $46,400 according to Glassnode.

Crypto exchange FTX.US to give away Bitcoin as part of Super Bowl ad. The amount of Bitcoin FTX.US gives is yet to be determined, and will be based on the East Coast time its Super Bowl ad runs. Cryptocurrency exchange FTX.US will be giving away free Bitcoin as part of its upcoming advertising campaign at the Feb. 13 Super Bowl LVI. However, the amount of Bitcoin given away has yet to be determined because it will depend on what time the ad runs on the East Coast. For example, if the ad runs at 8:50 PM, the Bahamian-based exchange will give away 8.50 BTC ($374,000 at current prices). But if the ad is aired later in the game — at 11 PM for example — the giveaway will increase to 11 BTC (around $484,000 at the moment). The airtime slot for the ad is scheduled in the game’s second half, which is slated to start at 8 PM ET (1:00 AM UTC, Feb 14), an hour and a half after initially kicking off.

Crypto exchange FTX US closes $400M funding round to reach $8B valuation. The new funding will be put toward expanding FTX US' workforce and introducing new offerings. Chicago-based crypto exchange FTX US has reached an $8 billion valuation following new funding. According to Reuters on Wednesday, the American affiliate of FTX closed a $400 million funding round led by SoftBank Group Corp, Temasek Holdings, Paradigm and Multicoin Capital. FTX US president Brett Harrison said that this development puts their firm as one of the largest crypto exchanges in the United States, and sends a message to the world that they are growing very rapidly. Harrison indicated that the firm will use the funds to further its offerings as well as to grow and expand its workforce. Back in 2021, the exchange made a sale-and-purchase agreement to acquire crypto derivatives platform LedgerX to expand its spot trading services by offering Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) options and futures contracts to investors. FTX’s global exchange raised $420 million from 69 investors raising its valuation to $25 billion last year. At the same time, the exchange also pushed marketing efforts by acquiring naming rights to Cal Memorial Stadium and Miami NBA stadium. Meanwhile, funding for crypto projects continues to grow in other areas of the ecosystem. On Jan. 19, Secret Network announced a $400 million fund offer to developers building within its network. The new $225 million ecosystem fund along with a $175 million accelerator pool aims to back privacy-oriented and decentralized applications. Venture capital company Andreessen Horowitz also announced its plans to raise $4.5 billion to invest in crypto funds. The firm would allot $3.5 billion for its venture capital fund and $1 billion to seed investments in the Web3 space. Alongside this, British payment platform Checkout.com recently raised $1 billion in investments to advance crypto payment processing, bringing the company’s valuation to $40 billion.

Crypto.com and FTX scored ad spaces for their brands at the biggest sports event of next year - the Super Bowl. Crypto exchange platforms Crypto.com and FTX will run advertising commercials at the Super Bowl LVI 2022 on Feb. 13. Both exchanges have been working tirelessly to establish their brands and penetrate the United States market. Super Bowl advertisements are known to be very costly, with rates going above $5 million for just 30 seconds. Some sponsors are even willing to pay up to a record high of $6.5 million for the same air time. Recently, Crypto.com also announced a partnership with Angel City Football Club, a soccer team that’s expected to play in 2022. Aside from this, the exchange’s efforts include securing naming rights for Staples Center. The exchange purchased naming rights for $700 million over 20 years. With this, Staples Center is renamed into Crypto.com Arena this December. In an official announcement, Crypto.com Co-Founder and CEO Kris Marszalek said that they are using their platform “in new and creative ways so that cryptocurrency can power the future of world-class sports, entertainment, and technology.”

FTX buys Super Bowl ad slot to promote crypto to a TV audience of 92M. FTX exchange will advertise for the first time during the Super Bowl LVI to reach mainstream football fans. Cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has secured an advertisement spot in one of the most watched events in America - the championship game of the National Football League, to be held in Feb. 2022. According to a report in Bloomberg, FTX purchased an ad in this year’s Super Bowl LVI motivated by the wide reach of the audience. The Super Bowl is invariably the top rating TV program of the year, and accounts for 28 of the 30 highest rating broadcasts in U.S. TV history. Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and CEO of FTX exchange, has made football one of the priorities within a marketing strategy that focuses on sports as the fastest growing customer base for crypto adoption.

The exchange also provides access to regular spot trading and supports transfers in fiat and a range of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and a selection of stablecoins. FTX aims to cater for both retail and institutional traders and provides a range of products and services aimed at more dedicated traders. The platform also provides an OTC service for anyone interested in making large crypto purchases, while the mobile app suits anyone who likes to keep up with their accounts while on the go.