Cryptocurrency exchange OKX said it has identified roughly $157 million worth of digital assets belonging to bankrupt cryptocurrency firms FTX and Alameda Research. The exchange fell short of disclosing the specific assets, but confirmed it would return the funds to the affected entities.
Following FTX’s collapse in November, OKX said it carried out investigations to determine whether there had been any FTX-related transactions on its platform, and when it discovered assets and accounts linked to FTX and Alameda, the crypto exchange moved to freeze the associated accounts and secure the assets.
OKX to Return FTX & Alameda Assets
In a Wednesday press release, OKX noted that it turn over the recovered assets to both firms’ bankruptcy estate in response to a motion recently filed in the FTX bankruptcy proceedings.
“OKX welcomes the motion and will continue to cooperate with the FTX debtors and law enforcement officials in the hope that these assets will eventually be returned to FTX users through the bankruptcy process,” the exchange said.
Large Chunk of FTX Assets Still Missing
FTX, alongside Alameda, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November last year after the former faced a run on deposits. At the same time, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) resigned as CEO at FTX. He is currently facing a total of 13 federal criminal charges over his alleged involvement in the collapse of the crypto exchange.
Prosecutors believe the former CEO used customer deposits on the FTX platform to fund risky bets at Alameda, enrich himself, and buy political influence in the United States.
Meanwhile, FTX’s new management headed by John Ray has been working on recovering assets to repay customers. So far, the bankruptcy estate has recovered $5 billion worth of liquid assets, including cash and crypto has been recovered.
However, there are still a lot of assets missing. As Coinfomania reported earlier this month, $8.9 billion worth of customer funds have been unaccounted for and remain missing.
