FTX estate to pay $900M to creditors, bringing total to $10B
The FTX estate will return another $900 million to creditors starting late July, pushing total recoveries to $10 billion as the legal fate of its founder remains unresolved.
The FTX Recovery Trust will begin distributing approximately $900 million to creditors on July 31, marking the fifth round of payouts since the cryptocurrency exchange collapsed. The funds will be available to eligible claimants in the recovery plan’s convenience and non-convenience classes through BitGo, Kraken or Payoneer accounts within one to three business days.
This latest payout follows a $2.2 billion distribution in March and brings the total amount returned to roughly $10 billion. Under the exchange's recovery plan, convenience claims under $50,000 will receive 120% of their funds, while other creditors will get between 103% and 105%.
For market participants, the FTX wind-down stands as a rare example of substantial capital recovery following a major crypto failure. The estate's ability to return more than the original claim amounts to smaller users provides a degree of closure to investors who lost access to their funds during the November 2022 market downturn that triggered a wave of exchange bankruptcies.
While the financial restructuring nears its end, the legal repercussions for FTX’s leadership continue. Former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried remains in federal prison serving a 25-year sentence after a federal court upheld his conviction last month. His hopes for a presidential pardon appear increasingly slim after the U.S. Senate unanimously adopted a resolution opposing clemency this week.
President Donald Trump stated in January that he did not plan to pardon Bankman-Fried. The Senate resolution reflects broader bipartisan scrutiny over executive clemency in the crypto sector. Lawmakers heavily criticized Trump's pardon of former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, which followed a $2 billion investment into the exchange by a UAE entity using a stablecoin issued by the Trump family's World Liberty Financial.
Bankman-Fried is not the only former executive behind bars. Ryan Salame, the co-CEO of FTX’s Bahamian affiliate, is also serving time in federal prison for his role in the misuse of customer funds. Meanwhile, the exchange's professional advisors are still facing legal accountability. In May, law firm Fenwick & West agreed to pay $54 million to settle a class action lawsuit filed by former users who had originally sought $525 million in damages.
