Bahamas seizes $3.5 billion worth crypto assets of collapsed exchange FTX

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Bahamian regulator said it seized $3.5 billion worth of cryptocurrency assets of the collapsed crypto exchange platform of FTX.

The country's Securities Commission said Thursday in a statement it directed the transfer of all digital assets of FTX to its own controlled digital wallets for "safekeeping" on Nov. 12 -- one day after the exchange platform filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US.

The transferred digital assets will be under the exclusive control of the Commission on a "temporary basis" until The Bahamas Supreme Court directs to deliver them to customers and creditors who own them, it added.

The Commission also noted that there was "a significant risk of imminent dissipation" to the digital assets under the custody or control of FTX.

FTX's former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, 30, was arrested in The Bahamas on Dec. 12, extradited to the US on Dec. 22 and taken immediately to the District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Facing eight charges, he was released on $250 million bail and has his next court hearing set for Jan. 3 in the Manhattan court.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) argues that FTX, while based in The Bahamas, raised more than $1.8 billion from equity investors, including approximately $1.1 billion from 90 US-based investors, since at least May 2019.

While the SEC charges Bankman-Fried with defrauding investors, the US' Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) charges him with fraud and material misrepresentations in connection with the sale of digital commodities in interstate commerce, adding his actions caused the loss of over $8 billion in FTX customer deposits.