The fortunes of crypto exchange FTX have fallen from bad to worse over the week, and even after it got its hope up, things turned to naught. In a press release, which it posted on Twitter, FTX sent the already volatile crypto market reeling once again after it informed that it, along with Alameda Research, FTX.US – which was supposed to run independently if Binance had followed through with the deal to acquire its rival – and about another 130 affiliated companies that made up the FTX Group voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code of the United States.
With the filing, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried will step down from his role as CEO to make way for John. J. Ray III, who will ascend to the position. Nonetheless, the 30-year-old Bankman-Fried will continue to assist the crypto exchange “in an orderly transition.”
“The immediate relief of Chapter 11 is appropriate to provide the FTX Group the opportunity to assess its situation and develop a process to maximize recoveries for stakeholders. The FTX Group has valuable assets that can only be effectively administered in an organized, joint process. I want to ensure every employee, customer, creditor, contract party, stockholder, investor, governmental authority and other stakeholder that we are going to conduct this effort with diligence, thoroughness and transparency” Ray said in an official statement.
Press Release pic.twitter.com/rgxq3QSBqm
— FTX (@FTX_Official) November 11, 2022
In a separate thread on Twitter, Bankman-Fried apologized, informing that he was going to work on where things were, in terms of user recovery, as soon as possible, and hoped that things would recover with time. “Hopefully this can bring some amount of transparency, trust, and governance to them. Ultimately hopefully it can be better for customers,” Bankman-Fried wrote in the thread, adding, “I’m piecing together all of the details, but I was shocked to see things unravel the way they did earlier this week. I will, soon, write up a more complete post on the play by play, but I want to make sure that I get it right when I do.”
1) Hi all:
Today, I filed FTX, FTX US, and Alameda for voluntary Chapter 11 proceedings in the US.
— SBF (@SBF_FTX) November 11, 2022
FTX thus completes a harrowing few days that saw the complete and stunning collapse of its $32 billion crypto business, the fall from Bankman-Fried’s status as the “white knight” of the crypto world, and the fall of the deal that could have saved it. Instead, the crypto exchange fell short of billions of dollars – nearly $10 billion – as it failed to meet the sudden surge in withdrawals following a Coinbase report, and its attempts to keep itself afloat turned to be futile as it fell into the grasp of a “liquidity crunch.”
With its collapse, FTX dropped from the third place among the world’s largest crypto exchanges to 62nd, and as expected, added to the increasing volatility of the crypto industry this year, and serves as a cautionary tale for future traders and investors in the crypto sphere. Not only did the crypto market lose billions in value in what is one of its toughest years, but the negative ripples continued to send the prices of cryptocurrencies plunging to new lows. FTT, the native token of FTX, dropped by 34% on Friday to $2.43, before it rallied to reach $3.51. Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, fell steeply by 4.35% on Friday to trade at $16,787, while Ether dropped by 3.5% to trade at $1250.
