FTX Says 'Unauthorized Access To Certain Assets Has Occurred' After Declaring Bankruptcy

Just a day after FTX Trading announced it was filing for bankruptcy, the company's CEO said Saturday that "unauthorized access to certain assets has occurred."

"An active fact review and mitigation exercise was initiated immediately in response," John Ray said in a statement, tweeted by the company's general counsel. "We have been in contact with, and are coordinating with law enforcement and relevant regulators."

Reuters reported earlier Saturday that analysts had noticed "hundreds of millions of dollars of assets" were moved from the platform in "suspicious circumstances."

Ray's statement also confirmed that the company "is in the process of removing trading and withdrawal functionality and moving as many digital assets as can be identified to a new cold wallet custodian." It's also making "every effort to secure all assets, wherever located."

Ray was appointed the company's new chief executive after founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried resigned Friday.Earlier in the week, the CEO of rival crypto exchange Binance, Changpeng Zhao, said his company had struck a deal to acquire FTX. Zhao ditched the move a day later, raising questions about FTX's financial viability. 

Bankman-Fried told a group of investors the company needed about $8 billion to back up its users' crypto assets. He also warned that the company might have to file for bankruptcy without an imminent infusion of cash.

FTX is the third crypto company to seek bankruptcy protection this year, following Voyager Digital and Celsius Network. The filing also clouds the fate of BlockFi, a crypto lender that FTX helped bail out with $400 million earlier this year. 

On Friday evening, Miami-Dade County and the Heat released a joint statement in which they said they were "immediately taking action to terminate our business relationships with FTX," and would be searching for a "new naming-rights partner.

First published on November 12, 2022 / 2:07 PM

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