FTX logo on laptop screen.
Andrey Rudakov | Bloomberg via Getty Images
The Securities Commission of the Bahamas says it has seized $3.5 billion worth of cryptocurrency from the crashed crypto exchange FTX.
in one Press Release late on Wednesday, the watchdog confirmed the total amount was taken from FTX’s Bahamian subsidiary, FTX Digital Markets, and added that the funds had been moved into their own digital wallet “to keep safe”.
The management agency already has previously confirmed it is holding some FTX digital assets but did not specify the amount.
According to the Commission, the funds are valued at more than $3.5 billion, based on market prices at the time of transfer. The handover took place on November 12, one day after FTX file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection United States
The Bahamian Securities Commission said the funds were being held on a “temporary basis” until the country’s Supreme Court directed them to be delivered to customers and creditors, or to an insolvent liquidator. payment capacity.
The regulator said it took the funds after receiving information from Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced co-founder of FTX, regarding cyberattacks on the systems of FTX’s Bahamian unit.
It said there is “significant imminent risk” to assets under the control of FTX Digital Markets.
After FTX filed for bankruptcy, it was targeted for a suspected hacking saw $477 million withdrawn from the company’s crypto wallet. The identity of the perpetrator is still unknown.
The Bahamian regulator has come under scrutiny for its role in the collapse of FTX and subsequent regulatory proceedings.
The Commission wants to handle insolvency proceedings for FTX in the Bahamas. But FTX’s US attorneys objected to the move, alleging that it in collaboration with Bankman-Fried to transfer FTX digital assets to its own custody.
FTX’s U.S. attorneys declined to grant Bahamian court-appointed liquidators access to the company’s computer systems, saying: “We don’t trust the Bahamian government.”
Former CEO of FTX Bankman-Fried is arrested in the Bahamas And after that Extradition to the United Stateswhere he is awaiting trial fraudconspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the United States and violate campaign finance laws.
He was released last week on $250 million bailand is said to have hosted guests at the family home in California, including “The Big Short” author Michael Lewis.
Bankman-Fried is expected to be charged and given a plea in federal court in Manhattan on January 3, according to a statement. Reuters report.
