PYMNTS-MonitorEdge-May-2024

FTX US and Alameda Research Each Have Liabilities of $10B to $50B

FTX-affiliated trading firm Alameda Research and FTX US reportedly each have liabilities of as much as $50 billion. 

On the Alameda Research’s bankruptcy filing, it lists assets of between $10 billion and $50 billion, liabilities of between $10 billion and $50 billion, and a population of creditors totaling more than 100,000, Yahoo Finance reported Friday (Nov. 11). 

Alameda Research is one of more than 130 FTX Group companies that filed for bankruptcy protection Friday. Others that are beginning voluntary Chapter 11 proceedings in the United States include FTX.com and FTX US, FTX.com said in a Friday press release. 

FTX US has liabilities of its own of between $10 billion to $50 billion, equal to those of Alameda Research. It has a similar range in assets, CoinDesk reported Friday, citing the companies’ respective bankruptcy filings. 

Additional companies listed in a bankruptcy filing include BitPesa, Blockfolio, Quoine and more than a dozen FTX entities, according to the report. 

Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of the FTX Group who has resigned from that role but will remain with the company, tweeted after the announcement of the bankruptcy filing: “This doesn’t necessarily have to mean the end for the companies or their ability to provide value and funds to their customers chiefly, and can be consistent with other routes.” 

The filing could be the worst seen since 2014, when crypto exchange Mt.Gox defaulted, according to the Yahoo Finance report. 

The ramifications have extended well beyond the companies affiliated with the FTX Group. During the first hour after the release of the bankruptcy filing, there was a 4% drop in the total cryptocurrency market capitalization, amounting to a drop of $23 billion, the report said. 

As PYMNTS reported Friday, the FTX blowup and bankruptcy will reshape the crypto industry. The hit to banks’ and investment firms’ balance sheets may be limited, but the hit to innovations and support to crypto — to bring digital coins more fully into mainstream commerce — may be incalculable. 

PYMNTS-MonitorEdge-May-2024