FTX Payouts: A Closer Look at What Creditors Might Actually Get

The news about FTX creditors getting their money back isn't as straightforward as it seems. The value of crypto has gone up a lot since FTX went down, which means the payouts might not be as big as people thought. Sunil, who represents FTX creditors, said that after adjusting for the current crypto prices, creditors might only get between 9% and 46% of what they're owed. This is a big deal because FTX had promised to pay back 143% in fiat currency, but that doesn't account for the drop in crypto values. For example, Bitcoin was worth about $16, 871 when FTX collapsed, but now it's over $110, 000. So, a 143% payout in fiat money is only about 22% in real Bitcoin value. Ether and Solana have similar issues. This means that even though creditors are getting some money back, they're still not making up for all their losses in crypto. There's a bit of hope, though. Sunil mentioned that creditors might get extra money through airdrops from other crypto projects. These projects see FTX creditors as valuable because they have a lot of crypto. So, they might give out free tokens to attract these creditors. FTX has already started paying back some creditors. The first round of payments, which went to people with claims under $50, 000, totaled $1. 2 billion and happened on February 18. In May, FTX launched a bigger payout of $5 billion to eligible creditors. This covered different types of claims, like Dotcom Customer Entitlement Claims and US Customer Entitlement Claims. General Unsecured and Digital Asset Loan Claims are set to get 61% of what they're owed, and this money should reach them soon. Meanwhile, Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX, is still in prison serving a 25-year sentence for fraud and conspiracy. He's trying to appeal his conviction, and his hearing is set for November 4. His legal team argues that he was never presumed innocent and that prosecutors didn't handle the case fairly. They're challenging his 2023 conviction on seven felony counts.