FTX Japan Says to Allow Customer Withdrawals from Mid-February

Suvashree Ghosh, Bloomberg News

The FTX Cryptocurrency Derivatives Exchange logo on a laptop screen arranged in Riga, Latvia, Nov. 24, 2022. The implosion of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX empire dealt a harsh blow to the Bahamas’ ambitions to be a hub for the crypto industry, and it’s causing massive pain for locals who treated the now-bankrupt exchange like a bank. Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- The Japanese subsidiary of Sam Bankman-Fried’s bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX will start returning customer assets from the middle of February, the entity said in a statement on its website.

The unit laid down a timeline for the withdrawal process, in a move that would be a rare example of investors getting money back from the failed exchange. The proposal in Japan stands in contrast to other countries where the path to recovery of customer funds is largely unclear.

The fallen crypto exchange owes its 50 biggest unsecured creditors globally a total of $3.1 billion.

FTX Japan said it is developing systems to enable its customers to withdraw their assets via Liquid Japan’s website, a platform it bought this year to boost its local presence. The statement laid down a three-step process to return the assets to customers, which includes opening a Liquid Japan account mid-January, followed by balance checks and the ability to withdraw in mid-February.

FTX Japan K.K. holds about $94.5 million in crypto assets and $46 million in fiat currency in designated client accounts.

--With assistance from Gareth Allan.