Securities Fee of The Bahamas says it has taken management of FTX Digital Markets’ belongings to guard buyers.
The Bahamas unit of troubled cryptocurrency change FTX has had its digital belongings seized by monetary authorities within the Caribbean nation.
The Securities Fee of The Bahamas stated on Thursday it had transferred the digital belongings of FTX Digital Markets (FDM) to a digital pockets underneath its management for “safekeeping”.
The regulator stated it had taken the motion on Saturday to guard the pursuits of purchasers and buyers.
“Pressing interim regulatory motion was vital to guard the pursuits of purchasers and collectors of FDM,” the fee stated in a press release.
“Underneath the Digital Property and Registered Exchanges Act, 2020 (“DARE Act”), the Fee has the authority to use for a judicial order to guard the pursuits of purchasers or clients of a registrant of the Fee underneath the DARE Act.”
The regulator stated it was its understanding that FDM isn’t a celebration to chapter proceedings in the US involving guardian firm FTX.
“Over the approaching days and weeks, the Fee will have interaction with different regulators and authorities, in a number of jurisdictions, to handle issues affecting the collectors, purchasers and stakeholders of FDM globally to acquire the very best consequence,” it stated.
The announcement comes after a US courtroom submitting on Tuesday confirmed that FDM was looking for safety underneath Chapter 15 of the US Chapter Code.
Non-US corporations use the supply to guard themselves from collectors looking for to file lawsuits or tie up belongings within the US.
FTX filed for chapter final week after buyers rushed to withdraw $6bn from the platform and a proposed rescue deal by its rival Binance fell by.
The collapse of FTX, the third-largest crypto change, has despatched shockwaves by the crypto sector, prompting allegations of fraud and comparisons to the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
In a courtroom submitting on Thursday, new FTX CEO John Ray stated he had by no means seen such a “full failure of company controls and such an entire absence of reliable monetary data as occurred right here”.
Former CEO and founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who stepped down final week, stated in an interview with Vox this week he regretted his resolution to file for chapter safety and that regulators “don’t shield clients in any respect”, earlier than showing to stroll again a few of his feedback.
Bankman-Fried and several other celebrities who promoted FTX are dealing with an $11bn class motion lawsuit from buyers, whereas the US Division of Justice and the Securities and Alternate Fee are investigating whether or not Bankman-Fried or his firm violated securities legislation.