Crypto exchange OKX plans to release over a hundred-million worth of frozen assets to the FTX bankruptcy estate.
In a press release on Wednesday, OKX said it will turn over $157 million worth of assets related to FTX and Alameda Research in response to a motion filed by the FTX debtors earlier that day.
For #OKX, doing right by crypto traders & the industry is always a top priority.
We did a proactive investigation when FTX collapsed and froze all associated assets & accounts.
Today, we are turning over USD157 MN in frozen FTX & Alameda-related assets.
Details ↓
— OKX (@okx) March 29, 2023
The funds were frozen in the days that followed FTX’s collapse in November, after OKX launched an investigation into FTX and Alameda-related transactions on the platform. After the crypto exchange identified assets and accounts associated with the bankrupt entities, it immediately froze them in the interest of safeguarding the assets.
The funds OKX has agreed to return are around $10 million short of the amount detailed by the FTX debtors in their motion. The majority of funds that FTX is seeking to claw back from accounts on OKX belongs to David Ratiney, a former FTX employee who went on to start Bonfida, a Solana-based blockchain infrastructure company that created trading tools for Serum.
Ratiney holds $150 million worth of crypto on an OKX account and an open swap position valued at around $2 million at press time.
Bonfida raised $4.5 million from investors, including Alameda, and the now-defunct crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital in 2020. However, its progress slowed considerably after the project raised funds, according to statements made by a former Bonfida employee Ezra Lim to The Wall Street Journal.
Bonfida’s native token FIDA was also a part of FTX’s balance sheet – one of the four low liquidity tokens that were improperly marked up. Shortly after FTX’s collapse, the exchange’s alleged hacker stole around $53 million worth of FIDA tokens, or half its circulating supply. Bonfida’s official Twitter account has been suspended, although the reason remains unclear at the time of writing.
So you guys just aren't going to address this https://t.co/pqOPe7c5cm
— The City Keeps Building 🛠️ (@TheCity777) November 14, 2022