New York.- The cryptocurrency platform FTX announced today that it has filed for bankruptcy in the United States and that its founder and chief executive, Sam Bankman-Fried has resigned.
The decision confirms the total collapse of this platform, one of the most important in the sector, which was once valued at 32,000 million dollars and which in recent days has collapsed due to lack of liquidity and with users rushing to withdraw their funds. money.
In a statement, FTX assured that the bankruptcy declaration is the appropriate measure to manage the company’s assets and protect the interests of its shareholders.
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Crypto platform FTX used client funds for risky investments
Cryptocurrency platform FTX used billions of dollars deposited by its customers to finance risky investments, a source confirmed to The Wall Street Journal on Thursday.
FTX, according to that source, lent the money to its investment firm, Alameda Research, which used it in aggressive trades and now owes the platform some $10 billion.
The FTX crisis was unleashed at the end of last week when many users rushed to withdraw their money from the platform after various reports began to cast doubt on its solvency and it was unable to meet requests for funds.
On Monday, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried claimed on Twitter that the firm had enough capital to cover its clients’ deposits and guaranteed that these assets were not being invested, but later deleted the message.
The FTX situation was further complicated on Wednesday, when Binance – the world’s leading currency exchange – announced that it was withdrawing the purchase offer it had announced a day earlier, when it had offered to come to the support of its rival.
“Our intention was originally to support FTX clients in their search for liquidity, but the matter is beyond our control and our ability to help,” Binance said in a statement.
The move sparked a new ftt crash, the digital asset of FTX, and sharp declines in the entire cryptocurrency market.
This Thursday, Bankman–Fried p.He apologized and admitted that he made mistakes when calculating the liquidity levels that were necessary, as well as when explaining the situation of the platform once the crisis broke out.
The 30-year-old billionaire is doing everything he can to obtain liquidity and is in talks with various parties to do so.
Bankman-Fried insisted that the money will go first to FTX clients and, only once their needs have been met, to investors and FTX employees.
In private, the founder of FTX acknowledged that without an injection of capital the platform is headed for bankruptcy, according to financial media.
In recent years, Bankman-Fried had become one of the best known figures in this sector and had appeared on the covers of numerous economic media as one of the great faces of the world of cryptocurrencies.
FTX, which operates from the Bahamas and this year was valued at 32,000 million dollars, For its part, it had become one of the most important players in this market.
Although for now there are no clear figures, some sources point out that the hole financial of the platform can amount to about 8,000 million dollars.
