Crypto’s Lehman moment: Investors buy $250M of FTX claims — Report
The bankruptcy claims market has been growing bullish on the debts of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX as major credit investors have been rushing to buy FTX debts.
Investors like Silver Point Capital, Diameter Capital Partners and Attestor Capital have purchased more than $250 million worth of FTX debts so far in 2023, Bloomberg reported on Sept. 21, citing an in-house analysis of public court filings.
The FTX debt has also attracted investors like Hudson Bay Capital Management, which reportedly bought a $23 million FTX claim and subsequently sold about 50% of it to Diameter.
In line with growing demand, the price of some FTX claims has been soaring this year. Some low-ranking FTX claims have jumped 191%, surging from $0.12 in early 2023 to about $0.35 recorded in recent weeks, the report said, citing data from the crypto debt broker Claims Market.
The historical indicative prices of “bid” and “ask” for larger FTX claims have also risen this year, according to the Claims Market’s charts.
The debt investors have been piling up FTX claims, betting that the firm’s bankruptcy process would unlock additional value by the time it’s resolved. One potential trade-off is that major bankruptcies can take years to unwind, and it can be hard to know what a collapsed company would be worth, especially in crypto.
According to some bankruptcy claim investors, the total value of all traded FTX claims might be much higher than the $250 million of deals in public court records.
Related: Stanford to return millions in crypto donations from FTX
Bankruptcy claims investor Thomas Braziel reportedly said that buyers and sellers sometimes wait months to file the paperwork for a debt trade. He claimed to be aware of individual FTX claims of more than $100 million. Braziel stated in the report:
“People made careers off of Lehman and Madoff — I think people see FTX as a Lehman or Madoff. The guys that are buying in these dockets, I consider them some of the smartest people in distressed.”
According to the report, many investors have been buying the rights to FTX crypto accounts with assets stuck on the platform after FTX halted all withdrawals in November 2022. Debt investment firm Contrarian Capital Management reportedly purchased an FTX account holding a massive amount of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) alongside $430,000 of cash.
Some crypto bankruptcies have also been taking years to be settled. Mt. Gox, once a major crypto exchange that was hacked back in 2014, has recently again postponed the deadline to return Bitcoin holdings to investors by one more year. At the time of writing, Bitcoin has surged more than 3,000% since Mt. Gox barred its users from withdrawing crypto in the aftermath of the hack.
The news comes amid FTX restructuring executives reminding investors to complete the claims process through the FTX Customer Claims Portal by the deadline of Sept. 29, 2023.
Magazine: Asia Express: PEX staff flee event as scandal hits, Mt. Gox woes, Diners Club crypto
Politics
Jess Phillips says there’s ‘no place’ where violence against women ‘doesn’t happen’ – as spiking to become new offence
Jess Phillips has said “there is no place” where violence against women and girls “doesn’t happen” – as a new law is set to make spiking a criminal offence.
Earlier on Friday, the government said spiking will now be its own offence with a possible 10-year prison sentence as part of the Crime and Policing Bill, which will be introduced in parliament next week.
It also announced a nationwide training programme to help workers spot and prevent attacks.
Speaking to Sky News correspondent Ashna Hurynag, the safeguarding minister said that while spiking is already illegal under existing laws, the new classification will simplify reporting the act for victims.
“Spiking is illegal – that isn’t in question, but what victims and campaigners who have tried to use the legislation as it currently is have told us is that it’s unclear,” Ms Phillips said.
Spiking will be made a criminal offence, carrying a sentence of up to 10 years. Pic: iStock
UK ‘was never safe’ for women
When asked if the UK is becoming a less safe place for women, the minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, said: “I don’t think it’s becoming less safe, if I’m being honest. I think it was never safe.”
Speaking about a rise in coverage, Ms Phillips said: “We have a real opportunity to use that, the sense of feeling [built by campaigners] in the country, to really push forward political change in this space.”
“The reality is that it doesn’t matter whether it’s the House of Commons or any pub in your local high street – there is no place where violence against women and girls doesn’t happen, I’m afraid,” she added.
Read more:
What are the symptoms of spiking?
What is methanol and how does it end up in drinks?
Spiking is when someone is given drugs or alcohol without them knowing or consenting, either by someone putting something in their drink or using a needle.
Police in England and Wales received 6,732 reports of spiking in the year up to April 2023 – with 957 of those relating to needle spiking.
London’s Metropolitan Police added that reports of spiking had increased by 13% in 2023, with 1,383 allegations.
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November 2024: If you got spiked would you report it?
As part of the nationwide training programme, a £250,000 government-funded scheme was started last week to teach staff how to spot warning signs of spiking crimes, prevent incidents and gather evidence.
It aims to train 10,000 staff at pubs, clubs and bars for free by April this year.
Read more from Sky News:
Apple removes advanced security tool over government row
Solicitors’ watchdog to probe business secretary claims
Alex Davies-Jones, minister for victims and violence against women and girls, said in a statement that “no one should feel afraid to go out at night” or “have to take extreme precautions to keep themselves safe when they do”.
“To perpetrators, my message is clear: spiking is vile and illegal and we will stop you,” he said. “To victims or those at risk, we want you to know: the law is on your side. Come forward and help us catch these criminals.”
Colin Mackie, founder of Spike Aware UK, also said the charity is “delighted with the steps being taken by the government to combat spiking”.
He added: “Spiking can happen anywhere, but these new initiatives are the first steps to making it socially unacceptable and we urge anyone that suspects or sees it happening, not to remain silent.”
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