Sam Bankman-Fried Claims FTX Was ‘Never Insolvent’ — Here’s What Happened In His View
Sam Bankman-Fried says FTX at all times had sufficient property to repay clients, claiming the alternate confronted a liquidity crunch relatively than a real steadiness sheet hole, and that present recoveries show his level.
In a document dated Sept. 30, 2025, Bankman-Fried and his staff contend the $8b owed to clients on the time of FTX’s Nov. 2022 chapter “by no means left.”
He writes that clients will get between 119% and 143% of what they had been owed on the time of FTX’s chapter, with about 98% already repaid 120%. After overlaying $8b in claims and $1b in authorized charges, the property nonetheless holds round $8b. The doc states, “In truth, FTX was by no means bancrupt.”
“There have at all times been sufficient property to repay all clients—in full, in variety—each in November 2022, and at the moment,” Bankman-Fried wrote.
SBF Portrays FTX Collapse As A Classic Bank Run Triggered By Panic Withdrawals
He frames the collapse as a traditional run on the financial institution. Withdrawals spiked to billions in days, the paper says, whereas the corporate sought asset gross sales and financing and continued to generate buying and selling charges. The authors declare offers had been in movement to bridge the shortfall by late Nov. 2022 and that buyer withdrawals had been resuming.
The narrative disputes the chapter staff’s early statements about shortfalls. It argues FTX and Alameda property exceeded liabilities in 2021 and thru mid-2022, and that the property’s personal Jan. 2023 supplies confirmed property roughly equal to or above buyer claims as of the submitting date.
Further, SBF and his staff blame subsequent choices in chapter for worth erosion and the lengthy delay in payouts.
Solana, Sui And Anthropic Cited As Assets That Soared After FTX Liquidations
Bankman-Fried’s camp factors to asset gross sales they are saying had been poorly timed. Stakes in tokens and personal firms are listed with what the authors name materially larger estimated values at the moment.
They cite Solana, Sui and Anthropic amongst positions that will have been value much more if held by way of the market rebound, whereas alleging insider-favored pricing and heavy skilled charges drained the property.
They additionally criticize dollarized payouts. Creditors are receiving the US greenback worth of their crypto as of Nov. 11, 2022, not the cash themselves. The paper argues this method denies clients the upside from the next rally, and says the years lengthy wait compounded the hole between petition date costs and present ranges.
FTX Once Valued Above $30B Before Rapid Unraveling In 2022
Context issues. FTX was as soon as valued above $30b with greater than one million customers.
Its fall adopted revelations about intertwined danger between the alternate and Alameda, a rush of withdrawals and a failed rescue.
After a 2023 trial, Bankman-Fried was convicted on seven counts, and in March 2024 received a 25-year sentence with an $11b forfeiture, a judgment he’s interesting.
The property has stated it maximized recoveries, pointing to asset monetization and litigation wins that funded rising payout projections. Creditors, particularly smaller account holders, have targeted on velocity and certainty of money, even when that meant giving up crypto upside.
Shareholders, against this, are recovering solely a fraction of invested capital.
FTX Recovery Sets Rare Precedent For Crypto Bankruptcies Worldwide
For crypto markets, close to full restoration of buyer funds based mostly on petition-date values marks a uncommon consequence in a significant alternate collapse. The debate over whether or not repayments ought to have been made in crypto as an alternative of {dollars}, and whether or not the property offered property too early, will stay a case research in methods to unwind a buying and selling platform throughout a unstable bull cycle.
Bankman-Fried’s doc seeks to recast that historical past. “The reply is that they by no means left,” it says of buyer funds, and it concludes that FTX might have paid everybody in 2022 if management had not shifted to exterior counsel and the court docket course of.
The courts will determine if that declare holds up, but the scale of the recoveries has already shifted how insolvency is known in crypto collapses.
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