- FTX agrees to a $228M settlement with Bybit to recover assets.
- A hearing to formalize the agreement has been scheduled for November 20, 2024.
The FTX bankruptcy estate has struck a $228 million settlement with cryptocurrency exchange Bybit and its investment branch, Mirana, as part of its ongoing efforts to recover assets for creditors. According to a court filing dated October 24, the agreement will see FTX get $175 million in digital assets and $53 million in BIT tokens.
FTX first sought to recover nearly $1 billion from Bybit and Mirana through a Delaware lawsuit filed in November 2023. The exchange accused the corporations of using their VIP status to withdraw around $327 million just before FTX’s collapse in November 2022.
CEO John J. Ray III, who has led FTX’s recovery since the bankruptcy filing two years ago, has been actively negotiating settlements with various companies to speed up asset recovery for customers. Earlier this month, the court approved FTX s wind-down plan, which seeks to distribute at least $12.6 billion to customers whose digital assets have become stuck on the platform.
Mirana urged FTX staff to speed withdrawal requests, bypassing regular user delays. The lawsuit also names individuals believed to have benefited from these transactions, including associates based in Singapore and an official from Mirana.
Progress in FTX Bankruptcy Case
FTX’s internal data revealed that Mirana was able to make significant withdrawals even after FTX suspended withdrawals for other customers on November 8, 2022.
A hearing will take place on November 20, 2024, to formalize the deal. If granted, FTX will be able to recover $175 million in digital assets kept on Bybit’s platform while selling around $52.7 million in BIT tokens to Mirana.
FTX’s legal team admitted that while their allegations were valid, more litigation would be time-consuming and expensive. According to the document, settling the matter allows FTX to recover assets more quickly.
This settlement follows FTX’s bankruptcy plan acceptance on October 7, 2024, which offers to return 98% of users to around 118% of their claims in cash. In recent months, several top officials from the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange have signed agreements to plead guilty to federal prosecutors.
Notably, one executive received a two-year prison sentence for cooperating with authorities, which was critical in exposing the FTX collapse. Ryan Salame, CEO of FTX Digital Markets, received a 7.5-year term in May. Meanwhile, Nishad Singh, the former head of engineering, has demanded that he be released from prison.
