FTX announced that it has entered into a purchase agreement with an affiliate of Miami International Holdings to sell its futures and options exchange and clearinghouse, LedgerX.
In a statement, FTX said the total proceeds from the deal will amount to approximately $50 million. The deal still needs approval from the US bankruptcy court in Delaware. A hearing on the deal is scheduled for May 4. FTX said it had reached an agreement with M7 Holdings. The company is an affiliate of Miami International Holdings, which operates several exchanges in the United States and abroad, including the Minneapolis Grain Exchange and the Bermuda Stock Exchange.
MIAX announces that it has entered into a purchase agreement to acquire LedgerX. Mark Wetjen, a former CFTC commissioner who later served as head of policy + regulatory strategy at FTX US, has been a board member of LedgerX since 2015. The bankruptcy court approved the sale of LedgerX and other FTX assets in January after overcoming challenges from a US trustee and an ad hoc committee of 18 non-US clients. Assets to be auctioned include Embed, LedgerX, FTX Japan, and FTX Europe. At the time, 117 parties expressed interest in the assets. FTX CEO and Chief Restructuring Officer John Ray III called the sale "an example of our ongoing efforts to monetize assets to recover costs from our stakeholders."
FTX.US acquired LedgerX in August 2021, enabling it to expand its spot trading services. LedgerX is regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam commented in December: “Our authority is limited to [LedgerX]. The same reason we cannot get past regulated entities, other FTX entities cannot penetrate LedgerX and potentially take client funds, which is obviously a priority as a regulator.”
