Collapsed crypto exchange FTX has about $1.24 billion of cash in total — but still owes at least $3.1 billion

In this photo illustration, a bitcoin logo seen displayed on a smartphone with a FTX logo on the background. 

Avishek Das | Lightrocket | Getty Images

FTX’s vast web of entities had a total of around $1.24 billion in cash balances as of Nov. 20, according to a new court filing out late Monday.

The filing was penned by Alvarez & Marsal North America, which is advising FTX on restructuring efforts after the exchange filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this month.

Edgar Mosley, managing director at Alvarez & Marsal North America, said FTX and his team managed to trace “substantially higher cash balances” than they had initially been able to identify by Nov. 16.

The balances include FTX and its various “silos,” ranging from the trading group Alameda Research to international subsidiaries. The largest sum, $393.1 million, comes from Alameda Research Ltd. The second-biggest balance is $303.4 million in LedgerX, a derivates platform FTX owns.

FTX’s Japanese unit, FTX Japan K.K., has about $171.7 million in cash on its books, making it the third-biggest source of cash for the company. The cash is held by FTX and its affiliates with banks and other financial institutions, Mosley said in the filing.

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The overall balance represents a marked shortfall on the billions FTX owes its creditors. A separate filing on Saturday said the company owed $3.1 billion to its largest 50 unsecured creditors.

It is not clear how FTX will raise the cash needed to fill that gap. Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX’s founder is trying to negotiate a multibillion-dollar deal with investors to bail out FTX, even after being booted from the firm.

Bankman-Fried has been accused by his industry peers of flagrant mismanagement and fraud.

John Ray III, his replacement, gave a damning account of FTX’s demise last week, saying in a filing that many of the FTX group companies “did not have appropriate corporate governance.”

Ray is now seeking to sell or restructure the global FTX group.

FTX’s new management is expected to appear in the Delaware bankruptcy court later Tuesday to recount the events that led up to the cryptocurrency platform’s sudden collapse and explain the steps it has since taken to secure customer funds and other assets.

Bitcoin sunk to two-year lows Tuesday as digital coins continued to reel from the fallout from FTX’s demise. The cryptocurrency was trading at around $15,480, its lowest point since Nov. 11, 2020.

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/22/collapsed-crypto-exchange-ftx-has-about-1point24-billion-of-cash-in-total-but-still-owes-at-least-3point1-billion-.html