Nearly 550 people in the Zoom call for the first day hearing for FTX's bankruptcy already. Expect some tweets here for @CoinDesk. Not sure how many in the courtroom. Participants were told to attend IRL #FTXbankruptcy
@CoinDesk The Judge said he would grant relief to a motion to seal -- think this means keeping the list of top 50 creditors under seal at the moment #FTXbankruptcy
Proposed co-counsel Adam Landis for FTX says "almost everything" raised by US trustee has been "consensually resolved in connection with first day motions" #FTXbankruptcy
Sullivan Cromwell attorney whose name I missed starts off saying what an "unprecedented matter" this case is, noting the week between filing of the case and the first hearing #FTXbankruptcy
John Ray III, new CEO of FTX, is in the courtroom, Sullivan Cromwell attorney says.
"Unfortunately the FTX debtors were not particularly well-run and that is an understatement," attorney says #FTXbankruptcy
Debtors have "assembled a team of investigators," including former CFTC enforcement director, former AUSA, CFTC enforcement folks and @chainalysis, attorney says #FTXbankruptcy
@chainalysis "The crypto crisis that we're facing in the United States and around the world is well-documented, but the FTX situation is both the latest and the largest failure in the space," the attorney says #FTXbankruptcy
@chainalysis Attorney says there was a run on the bank in the beginning of November + "a leadership crisis." Adds there was "resignation throughout the ranks" as former CEO @SBF_FTX's "leadership frayed" #FTXbankruptcy
We're up to nearly 700 people 20 minutes into this
The US DOJ, SDNY Cyber Crimes Unit have opened a criminal investigation. SEC/CFTC have been in contact, the attorney says #FTXbankruptcy
"We have received requests I would say -- some might say demands -- from the US Congress, both from the Senate and the House to have Mr. Ray appear during the month of December," the attorney says #FTXbankruptcy
Attorney says he wouldn't normally quote Twitter but "there was a quote that I think summarizes this quite well, which is that what appears to be taking place is a serious investigation by serious adults, and we would say we would agree." #FTXbankruptcy
"There are other things on Twitter you wouldn't agree with" jokes the judge.
Here's the organizational chart FTX is using for the bankruptcy process, that Sullivan and Cromwell is presenting to the court right now #FTXbankruptcy
This is FTX's timeline (note: Gary here is Gary Wang, his co-founder at Alameda) #FTXbankruptcy
History of FTX's investments and valuations from Sullivan Cromwell's presentation #FTXbankruptcy
"There were substantial amounts of money spent on things that were not related to the business," attorney says. One of the US debtors spent around $300 million on real estate in the Bahamas -- namely "homes and vacation properties" #FTXbankruptcy
"Your Honor, what we have is a worldwide organization, but an organization that was run effectively as a personal fiefdom of Sam Bankman-Fried," says Sullivan Cromwell attorney #FTXbankruptcy
"On Nov 2 documents leaked online showing that the FTT token position in the Alameda balance sheet was substantially larger than most anticipated," Sullivan Cromwell attorney James Bromley says, referring to @IanAllison123's @CoinDesk report #FTXbankruptcycoindesk.com/business/2022/…
@IanAllison123@CoinDesk@cz_binance@carolinecapital FTX still wants to redact "confidential customer information" including names and addresses of all core customers, names/addresses/email addresses of non-customer creditors and anything covered under GDPR, attorney says #FTXbankruptcy
Also adds there are "significant privacy concerns" #FTXbankruptcy
@IanAllison123@CoinDesk@cz_binance@carolinecapital [Ed Note: Every crypto exchange or co that files for bankruptcy is probably going to have to go through this exact same process; we last heard this argument during Celsius's bankruptcy]
@IanAllison123@CoinDesk@cz_binance@carolinecapital Trustee also objects to a line about authorizing "claims noticing agent to withhold publication of proofs of claims filed by debtors' customers" as "not entirely sure what that means," adds creditors should tell their stories #FTXbankruptcy
@IanAllison123@CoinDesk@cz_binance@carolinecapital "On an interim basis ... allowing the redaction of the names and addresses of the top 50 list. The same goes for the consolidated creditor list," the judge says. "I need to make sure I'm protecting the interests of these individuals" #FTXbankruptcy
And we're back, looking at a cash management motion #FTXbankruptcy
Evolve Bank is concerned about how cash management proposal addresses FTX accounts with Evolve, which are FBO accounts meaning it's the bank's property, says an attorney for Evolve #FTXbankruptcy
Evolve has given FTX language that would keep two accounts frozen
"We want to avoid a situation where have these accounts which belong to the bank, it's in fiat currency, it's used for credit cards of our customers," the attorney says #FTXbankruptcy
Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Company has a limited objection; PIIC has certain custodial funds for FTX it sounds like #FTXbankruptcy
Judge okays an interim order where debtors (FTX) won't close certain accounts #FTXbankruptcy
Another attorney on paying "pre-petition claims of certain critical domestic vendors" --
Asks for interim cap of $8.5 million, foreign vendor interim cap of $1 million, $200,000 for 503B claimants; capital lease payments at $125,000
Attorney says they're seeking limited relief on employee wages; no payment to SBF, Gary Wang, Nishad Singh or Caroline Ellison; otherwise continue paying pre-petition wages and salary to employees #FTXbankruptcy
Second day hearing on Jan 11, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. ET; Trustee has concern about items being sealed, little confusion about whether a mid-December hearing can address some of these concerns #FTXbankruptcy
Okay so it sounds like we'll have some kind of evidentiary hearing on Dec. 16, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. ET; objections due by Dec. 9, replies due Dec. 14 #FTXbankruptcy
And the hearing is over. Someone (the same guy playing music earlier) unmuted himself and tried asking a question but was cut off mid-sentence
All righty, I am home, watered, fed and taking a look at today's @CFTC actions against bZx and Ooki DAO. Going to live-tweet my reading. Link for reference cftc.gov/PressRoom/Pres…
@CFTC Press release: Unregistered leveraged/margined products, sure, no customer ID program (ie KYC requirements?)
@CFTC "respondents engaged ... in connection with a decentralized blockchain-based software protocol that functioned similarly to a trading platform"
Not entirely new, we've seen software protocols get dinged before (EtherDelta springs to mind)
.@SenSherrodBrown is coming out swinging, warning that crypto might be in a bubble and saying the industry has yet to live up to the lofty goals it's set for itself
3/ By that definition, “broker” could mean wallet developers, software engineers, DAO token holders, miners and other parties that don’t have customers the way a trading platform does.
That would entail specific tax information reporting rules:
Okay so it is 9:45pm ET and here's where things stand:
- Senate is currently voting on a judicial nomination
- Senate Majority Leader @chuckschumer has filed cloture on the overall infrastructure bill, IE moved to end debate around it and start voting
- It's unclear when, specifically, we might start seeing votes on the amendments around this infrastructure bill, but there are TWO amendments the crypto industry should be paying attention to. 1) The @RonWyden@SenLummis@SenToomey version: coindesk.com/crypto-tax-exe…