As per the Securities Commission of The Bahamas’ (SCB) press release, FTX assets worth $3.5 billion are held by it on market pricing (since transferred). The SCB intends to hold it on a temporary basis to ultimately get it delivered to customers and creditors.
The digital assets of FTX’s Bahamas unit were transferred in November to the digital wallets of the commission for exclusive control. This was done immediately following the U.S. bankruptcy filing by FTX, its hedge fund Alameda Research, and its affiliates.
Christina Rolle’s (executive director, SCB) affidavit filed with the Bahamas Supreme Court also reveals an interesting detail. It states that after the transfer, FTX founders Sam Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang lost access to the transferred or frozen tokens.
Rolle said,
All transferred assets were and remain under the sole control of the commission.
FTX lawyers had recently expressed their dismay when internal records were demanded from its Bahamian business. They expressed they “do not trust” the Bahamian government with data that might enable siphoning-off assets from FTX.
Notably, soon after bankruptcy filing by FTX, tokens worth around $372 million were stolen, possibly by an external hacker.
After the FTX cyberattack media reports began floating, coupled with potential FTX-controlled wallets’ loot by former employees, the Commission acted.
As per its media statement, the SCB
determined that there was a significant risk of imminent dissipation as to the digital assets under the custody or control of [FTX] to the prejudice of its customers and creditors.
The Bahamian authorities appointed liquidators to topple FTX’s international trading business immediately after its bankruptcy announcement.
