What to expect from FTX’s second bankruptcy hearing today; LedgerX sale, doxing creditors, custody of funds

It has been a long week for the FTX empire as its founder Sam Bankman-Fried was imprisoned in the Bahamas and set to face trial in the United States for money laundering and wired fraud charges from the SEC, CFTC, and SDNY. 

The failed crypto exchange FTX is set to hold its second hearing before the bankruptcy court of Delaware on Dec. 16, as the judge rules on a request to redact confidential information of FTX customers.

During FTX’s first bankruptcy hearing on Nov. 22, the FTX CEO John Ray said that FTX was a complete failure as FTX was grossly mismanaged. The exchange was in the control of a small group of inexperienced and unsophisticated individuals.

Debtors of FTX had requested to have the personal information of investors and corporate clients redacted for privacy reasons.  The U.S. Trustee opposed the request, citing the need to be transparent through the bankruptcy process.

Decision to dox FTX Creditors

According to the bankruptcy court’s agenda for Dec. 16, it will deliberate on FTX’s request to redact certain confidential information of customers today.

However, a part of the agenda stated that the FTX debtors are no longer seeking to keep the record sealed. Consequently, information on FTX creditors is likely to be doxed.

The court will also receive objections to Bloomberg, Financial Times, New York Times, and Dow Jones’s request to release all personal information of FTX creditors.

The agenda added that a decision to authorize BitGo as the custodian of FTX’s assets has been adjourned to Jan. 11, 2023.

Additionally, the court will deliberate on a motion to sell four FTX businesses namely FTX Japan, FTX Europe, Embed, and Ledger X, in an effort to raise liquidity to make customers whole.

Court appoints Creditors Committee

In the meantime, the court has approved the appointment of FTX’s Committee of Unsecured Creditors.  The committee will be actively involved in the bankruptcy process to represent the interest of FTX creditors.

The appointed members of the creditors’ committee include:

• Zachary Bruch
• Coincident Capital International
• GGC International (Bermuda arm of Genesis)
• Octopus Information
• Pulsar Global
• Larry Qian
• Acaena Amoros Romero
• Wincent Investment Fund PCC
• Wintermute Asia PTE

The second bankruptcy hearing of FTX is scheduled to hold on December 16, 2022, at 10:am ET via Zoom.