FTX Japan intends to commence withdrawals as early as February: Report

By: Michael Wilson

February 18, 2023 7:22 AM

Three of FTX's 134 subsidiaries were involved in the company's Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition in the United States: FTX Japan Holdings, FTX Japan, and FTX Japan Services.

The Japanese branch of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, FTX Japan, seems to be planning to let affected users withdraw their funds again as early as February.

A Bloomberg article from February 17 says that FTX Japan sent out alerts asking users to check their account balances as part of the process to start withdrawals. Seth Melamed, the exchange's chief operating officer, said that customers can move assets to accounts on the FTX-owned Liquid Global platform, and that withdrawals will start "very soon."

"We are optimistic that we will meet the deadline," Melamed stated.

In November 2022, FTX Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States, which includes three of the company's 134 subsidiaries: FTX Japan Holdings, FTX Japan, and FTX Japan Services. Nevertheless, prior to the US bankruptcy filing, Japan's Financial Services Agency, or FSA, demanded that FTX Japan cease business orders.

Following an FSA order, FTX Japan proposed a proposal in December 2022 to resume user withdrawals. The plan proposed that FTX Japan customer assets not be included in the firm's bankruptcy proceedings, citing regulations that require exchanges to isolate client funds from their own.

publication of news NHK stated that when FTX Japan suspended operations in November, company had approximately 19.6 billion yen in cash – more than $138 million at the time. In comparison, FTX debtors reportedly recovered more than $5 billion in cash and cryptocurrency as of January.