FTX News: According to the monthly fee filings by FTX’s lawyers, the management is considering the potential relaunch of the closed crypto exchange. The fees that were billed in February include matters such as taxes, security, user experience, and exploring “long-term options” for the exchange, and totaled around $13.5 million.
Is A Re-birth Of FTX In The Cards?
As previously reported by CoinGape, to bring back value for creditors and consumers, new FTX CEO John J. Ray III had expressed his intention to look into the possibility of relaunching FTX.com, the company’s main international exchange. Ray, who has spent years reviving and providing support to companies such as Enron Corp. during their bankruptcy, has identified FTX as the largest failure of corporate governance in his career.
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Moreover, Ray claims that although some of FTX’s top executives have been found guilty of illegal activity, a lot of customers have praised the exchange’s technology, and proposed that rebooting the platform may be worthwhile. As reported by Bloomberg, reviving the crypto exchange — which was one of the world’s biggest digital asset trading platforms — would be much better than just selling its assets at a very low price.
February’s Billing Suggests Re-launch
The fee statement in February suggests that FTX’s lawyers worked on various issues related to the initiative. In one of the notes, it is said that a search for “potential security risks re: potential FTX exchange reboot” was conducted. Another refers to consulting Sygnia Inc., the security firm that was consulted by FTX after the platform was hacked after its bankruptcy in November, on potential reboot problems.
For tax matters, lawyers sent emails and letters to Ray. One of the fees included the cost of analyzing the possibility of re-establishing the exchange and the related tax repercussions. Discussions with advisors regarding the “development of mock-up exchange to evaluate user experience” were among the other tasks that were to be addressed in February.
Will FTX Return To Its Former State?
It is not yet certain if the new management team at FTX will proceed with restarting the exchange. The situation remains unclear, as the reboot could be an attempt to process withdrawals or a broader effort to relaunch the whole business, which was formerly led by Sam Bankman-Fried — who, apart from other infractions, allegedly joked with colleagues about misusing crypto funds to the tune of $50 million.
The crypto community has reacted with mixed feelings to this FTX news. The cryptocurrency market has never seen an effort like this before, and the recent bankruptcy claims-based OPNX exchange — established by the founders of the now-defunct 3AC hedge fund — saw far less participation than expected; showing a lack of confidence in the platform. The exchange had limited trading activity, with just two trades totaling $1.26 across all spot and derivatives markets when it was launched.
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