In order to settle the dispute pertaining to its European division, FTX has sold the company back to its founders for $32.7 million.
Crypto firm FTX has finally settled its European operations and gone bankrupt. They’ve settled on paying $32.7 million to return FTX Europe to its original owners. This decision clearly states, “We couldn’t find anybody else to take it off our hands,” given that they originally paid an expensive $323 million in 2021 to acquire this Swiss business, Digital Assets AG (DAAG), which then became FTX Europe.
Now, prior to further exploration, it is crucial to establish one thing. FTX used every available means to recover the funds it had invested in this purchase. Even going to the extent of suing, they said that they had overpaid and utilized consumer funds for the purchase. Founders Patrick Gruhn and Robin Matzke of the company were not having it. They retaliated by suing FTX for $256.6 million. On February 21, they finally ended the issue after what seemed like an endless game of legal ping pong.
After the bankruptcy, every significant cryptocurrency exchange sought a stake in FTX Europe in an effort to carve out a portion of the market. Notable companies like Coinbase rushed to it, making two attempts to finalize the acquisition. Trek Labs and Crypto.com were among others that also entered. The lights came on for FTX Europe’s European customers in March 2023 when they launched a webpage for withdrawal requests, which was like unlocking the emergency doors after a plane had already landed, despite the chaos that followed.
While the bankruptcy drama winds down, FTX has been diligently working to clear its debts, with clients promising billions in repayment. In an effort to address the financial crisis they are facing, they have taken drastic measures, including obtaining approval to sell more than $1 billion worth of shares in Anthropic, an artificial intelligence company.
In one of his few public appearances since his incarceration, Sam Bankman-Fried—or “SBF,” as those around him jokingly refer to him—appeared before a judge. There, he approved of his legal team’s representation of former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky, another prominent client, and tried to resolve any possible conflicts of interest between the two. This legal tornado resulted in SBF giving up his right to a conflict-free defense, which is both a curious and smart movement.
One of the few public appearances by Sam Bankman-Fried since his imprisonment was his latest court appearance; he was the former CEO of FTX. This unfolds as the countdown to his March 28 sentence continues, providing a window into the life of a former crypto industry powerhouse after his conviction. Images of Bankman-Fried with other prisoners have surfaced.
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