• FTX CEO John J. Ray III is considering restarting a bankrupt crypto exchange, according to a court filing.
• Ray spent 223.2 hours in April and billed $290,160 for his efforts to reboot the exchange with cyber security company Sygnia’s help.
• Former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried faces multiple charges for defrauding customers and could face over 100 years in prison if convicted.
FTX Exchange Shutdown
In November 2020, FTX Exchange was forced to halt customer withdrawals following the collapse of its native asset and shut down operations. The exchange declared bankruptcy and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, who oversaw the liquidation of Enron, was replaced by John J. Ray III. In his initial filing on the company’s affairs, Ray said he has never seen a corporate enterprise as mismanaged as FTX.
Reboot Efforts
According to a monthly compensation report filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware in April 2021, Ray took part in various activities centered on an FTX reboot, including reviewing work plans from cyber security firm Sygnia for “exchange fortification” and finalizing materials for distribution to bidders regarding a 2.0 restart of the platform . In total, Ray reported working 223.2 hours during this period and billed $290,160 for his efforts..
Charges Against Former CEO
Bankman-Fried faces a slew of charges for allegedly defrauding customers and mishandling billions of dollars worth of their funds as well as making illegal political donations — if convicted he could face more than 100 years in prison.
Ray Considering Reboot?
In January 2021 it was reported that John J Ray had set up a task force to find out if restarting FTX would be better than selling its assets — now with this recent court filing it appears that he is indeed considering such an option despite his initial statements about how poorly managed the company was prior to him taking charge.
Conclusion
The future of FTX remains unclear but it appears that some sort of reboot is still being considered despite all that has happened since its shutdown late last year — only time will tell what happens next though if John J Ray decides to move forward with such an endeavor or not!