On Monday, the Japanese subsidiary of FTX, the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, announced that it’s partially restarting operations in Japan. It explained that customers of its Japanese subsidiary can withdraw their cryptocurrency deposits as well as fiat currency deposits starting February 21.
Trading platform Liquid Japan, which FTX Japan acquired a year ago, will facilitate the withdrawal. It follows the announcement that FTX Japan stopped withdrawing funds in November following the collapse of founder Sam Bankman-Fred’s crypto empire, which began in the summer of 2022.
As of December 1, the company said that it has notified eligible customers that they can withdraw funds. The process involves registering with Liquid Japan as a client and confirming their current balance with FTX Japan. In light of the large number of clients submitting requests at the same time, FTX Japan cautioned that the system could collapse. As of that date, the platform had about $94.6 million.
FTX Japan, which was only operational for six months, has announced that refunds will be issued soon to those who used either FTX Japan or FTX trading partners, including FTX.US. FTX Japan’s customer base will be refunded $5 million and FTX.US customers will be refunded $46 million. This process of adaptation continues to take place.
In November of 2022, FTX filed for bankruptcy after a sharp decline in the value of FTT, its native digital currency. It became clear that FTX wasn’t able to honor withdrawals because it didn’t hold enough reserves, so it filed for bankruptcy.
The following day, authorities arrested Bankman-Fried and charged him in in the Southern District of New York with several crimes, including wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He subsequently pleaded not guilty.
Last December, FTX filed for approval to sell four of its subsidiaries. This sale will provide money with which the company can repay its creditors, to whom it reportedly owes billions of dollars.
It has recently been proposed that a Bankman-Fried criminal trial judge amend the FTX founder’s bail agreement to prevent him from accessing electronic devices entirely because of his internet usage.
