John Ray, who took over as CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX ahead of bankruptcy proceedings, has reportedly formed a task force to consider restarting FTX.
According to a Jan. 19 report in The Wall Street Journal, Wray said that when it comes to the future of FTX.com, everything is “on the table,” including a potential path forward to restart the exchange. FTX Trading, doing business as FTX.com, is one of about 130 companies in the FTX Group, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November 2022.
Meanwhile, the debtor identified $181 million in digital assets tied to the U.S.-based entity FTX US. It added that about $90 million was transferred by unauthorized third parties following the bankruptcy filing, $88 million was in cold storage under the control of FTX debtors, and $3 million was awaiting transfer to debtors.
Ray and former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried clashed over the exchange's stance and whether it should file for bankruptcy. Bankman-Fried lamented FTX’s bankruptcy filing, and in a recent Substack newsletter, Bankman-Fried insisted that the company could have reimbursed all of its clients if he hadn’t been “forced” to declare bankruptcy.
The collapse of FTX and the subsequent criminal charges against many of its executives sent ripples through the cryptocurrency space in 2022. Former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang have pleaded guilty to fraud charges, while Ray's predecessor, Sam Bankman-Fried, has largely denied many of the allegations against him. He pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to appear in court in October.
Ray reportedly tracked down some of the company's assets with the assistance of Wang and Ellison, but he often barbed deals with Bankman-Fried. The former CEO claims he was pressured by law firm Sullivan & Crowell and FTX’s U.S. general counsel to appoint Ray to head FTX before the company’s bankruptcy. Ray also said that Bankman-Fried no longer holds any position at the exchange and cannot speak on its behalf.
