FTX was custodian for majority of tokens on DeFi lending platform Oxygen

Quick Take

  • DeFi prime brokerage Oxygen said on Twitter that it is “shocked” by FTX bankruptcy protection filing.
  • FTX acted as the custodian for more than 95% of Oxygen’s ecosystem tokens.
     

DeFi prime brokerage Oxygen said FTX acted as the custodian for the majority of the tokens on its ecosystems, adding that it has sought legal help.

"Whilst FTX Group did not hold any equity in the MAPS or Oxygen businesses, it did hold a significant proportion of MAPS/OXY tokens," Oxygen said in a Twitter thread. "It also acted as custodian for over 95% of the overall supply of our ecosystem tokens — both locked and unlocked."

Oxygen is built on Solana and uses on-chain infrastructure called Serum. OXY refers to the governance token for the Oxygen prime brokerage protocol, while MAPS is the token used for the second version of offline mobile mapping app Maps.me, which announced an integration with Oxygen in 2021. 

FTX's sister trading firm Alameda Research led a $40m investment in Oxygen in February 2021, with participation from Multicoin Capital, Genesis Capital and CMS.

Retained legal advisors

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Oxygen, which said it was "shocked" by the events surrounding FTX's bankruptcy proceedings.

"We are considering all options on how to protect the MAPS & OXY ecosystems and have retained legal advisors to assist with this ongoing process," Oxygen said. 

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried told The Block in February 2021 that Oxygen was “a lot less white glove than traditional prime brokerage, that’s sort of how crypto is."

Maps.me made its last Twitter post on Oct. 3.


Disclaimer: The former CEO and majority shareholder of The Block has disclosed a series of loans from former FTX and Alameda founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

© 2023 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

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About Author

Kristin Majcher is a senior correspondent at The Block, based in Colombia. She covers the Latin America market. Before joining, she worked as a freelancer with bylines in Fortune, Condé Nast Traveler and MIT Technology Review among other publications.

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