FTX Trading Ltd. and affiliated debtors can start selling shares from Bitwise and Grayscale trusts, a U.S. bankruptcy court said in a Wednesday filing.
Those shares had a value of $744 million at the time of the filing but that total has likely increased with the surge in crypto prices this month and continued narrowing of the GBTC discount.
“The Debtors are authorized, but not directed, to execute sales of the Trust Assets, in their reasonable business judgment,” bankruptcy court Judge John T. Dorsey wrote in his ruling.
Earlier this month, the crypto exchange and other debtors had asked the court for approval of the sale as they seek to pay off creditors. FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy a year ago after a CoinDesk report revealed a liquidity crisis at the exchange and sister firm Alameda Research.
Read More: FTX Asks to Sell $744M in Assets From Grayscale, Bitwise Trusts
The request came just days after FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was found guilty on all seven counts for defrauding customers and misusing client funds.
The trusts managed by Grayscale and Bitwise, which provide indirect investment exposure to cryptocurrencies. FTX wants to sell $691 million from five Grayscale trusts and $53 million from one Bitwise trust.
The debtors said the sale was necessary to have the assets ready to potentially sell to multiple buyers and to repay creditors in a more efficient, cost-effective manner.
The debtors also said the sale would protect the assets from potential price swings in the trusts.
“The debtors’ judgment is that proactively mitigating the risk of price swings will best protect the value of the Trust Assets, thereby maximizing the return to creditors and promoting an equitable distribution of funds in the debtor’s’ plan of reorganization,” the filing said.
Read More: SBF Found Guilty on All Counts
UPDATE (Nov. 30, 2023, 09:57 EST): Changes headline and adds sentence to reflect the likely increase in the value of the assets.
