FTX Japan Resumes Withdrawals as Assets Attract Interest

FTX Japan will resume withdrawals at 12 p.m. Japan Standard Time on Feb. 21, 2023, as the exchange courts bids for its assets amid a drawn-out FTX bankruptcy battle.

The exchange advised withdrawing customers on Feb. 20, 2023, to confirm their asset balances before transferring them to Liquid Japan, a crypto exchange FTX acquired in Feb. 2022. FTX Japan clients without a Liquid account can only withdraw their funds in JPY.

FTX Japan Warns Customers of Potential Delay

The resumption of withdrawals is the culmination of a roadmap drafted in Dec. 2022 to resume customer withdrawals by Feb. 2023.

Due to the large volume of withdrawals, the exchange added that the process may take an extended period. It will resume other services as soon as possible.

FTX Japan was one of four business units that FTX was allowed to sell following a ruling by Judge John Dorsey overseeing FTX Trading’s bankruptcy proceedings in Delaware.

FTX Trading filed for bankruptcy in November 2022, which included 130 companies, after its main exchange in the Bahamas experienced a liquidity crunch amid a flood of withdrawals.

The other firms whose assets are for sale are FTX Europe, futures and options platform LedgerX, and Embed a stock clearing platform.

FTX Warns Customers About Scams as Third-Party Claims Marketplaces Flourish

Earlier this week, FTX Trading warned customers to remain alert for schemes targeting victims of the FTX bankruptcy.

The exchange warned against scams offering a debt token issued to guarantee customers a portion of the firm’s recovered assets.

Bereft customers are also turning to third-party bankruptcy claim marketplaces where they may receive their allotted holdings at a fraction of their dollar value.

X-Claim, a popular third-party marketplace, is currently processing multi-million dollar claims related to the FTX bankruptcy. The highest claim is currently worth $27 million.

Recently, co-founder of bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, Su Zhu, announced the launch of a new bankruptcy claims marketplace for victims of collapsed crypto firms.

Bankman-Fried’s Lawyers to Propose Amended Bail Terms This Week

FTX’s former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, who faces several criminal charges following the collapse of FTX, recently stoked the ire of the judge presiding over his case in New York.

Last week, the judge gave Bankman-Fried’s lawyers one week to propose changes to Bankman-Fried’s bail conditions after the former FTX boss used a VPN to watch Super Bowl LVII on Feb. 12, 2023.

“I think the onus is on you to establish to my satisfaction that whatever conditions I might contemplate might in fact be effective in protecting the public from witness-tampering and whatever else is at risk by virtue of giving him all this access,” the judge told Bankman-Fried’s defense lawyer Mark Cohen.

The judge advised the lawyers to enlist a consultant to advise him on the details of restricting Bankman-Fried’s technology privileges. He is concerned that his use of the VPN signals an attempt by Bankman-Fried to circumvent government scrutiny.

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