A possible FTX reboot is starting to look more and more likely, with three high-profile bidders in contention for the winning bid, and an approval of sorts from U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler.
Bullish, a crypto exchange run by Tom Farley, the former president of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), is one of the three bidders in a bankruptcy auction to restart crypto exchange FTX, according to a Wednesday report from the Wall Street Journal.
A separate report from CNBC revealed that the proposed FTX reboot had an unlikely supporter in the SEC’s Gary Gensler, who said, “if Tom or anybody else wanted to be in this field, I would say, ‘Do it within the law.’”
In his view, as long as the exchange has the trust of investors and makes the proper disclosures without commingling funds or trading against customers, a rebooted FTX would work just fine.
“We would never let the New York Stock Exchange also operate a hedge fund and trade against their members or trade against customers in the market,” said Gensler.
Other entities in the running to restart FTX include Silicon Valley venture capital firm Proof Group, which was also part of the Fahrenheit consortium that won the successful bid for bankrupt crypto lender Celsius earlier this year.
FTX’s bankruptcy estate is currently considering binding offers from three different suitors with regards to an exchange restart. The liquidators say they have recovered $7.3 billion worth of assets, most of which are liquid.
