FTX had only $900 million in liquid assets backing $9 billion in debt: FT

Quick Take

  • FTX had $900 million in liquid assets against $8.9 billion in liabilities on the eve of bankruptcy, the Financial Times reports.

FTX had only $900 million in liquid assets against $8.9 billion in liabilities on the eve of bankruptcy, the Financial Times reports.

Citing investment materials, the report noted that the largest easily sellable assets available to FTX were $470 million of Robinhood shares owned via an outside corporate entity belonging to CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.

Despite being formally based outside of the U.S., $5.1 billion of the liabilities FT reported were in U.S. dollar balances.

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The crypto exchange's collapse into bankruptcy over the past week has captivated the financial world. Crypto assets belonging to FTX's sister trading firm Alameda Research went into on-chain motion early this morning. A wide web of assets associated with the network of firms has been drained from accounts.

Given the vast hole in FTX's balance sheet as well as the history of crypto exchange failures locking up user deposits, creditors face an uncertain future.


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Kollen Post is a senior reporter at The Block, covering all things policy and geopolitics from Washington, DC. That includes legislation and regulation, securities law and money laundering, cyber warfare, corruption, CBDCs, and blockchain’s role in the developing world. He speaks Russian and Arabic. You can send him leads at [email protected].

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