The bankruptcy estate overseeing the collapse of FTX said it will make its next round of creditor payments on March 31, continuing a repayment process that has stretched more than three years beyond the exchange’s failure.
In a statement issued Tuesday, the estate said funds will be distributed to creditors listed on the record as of Feb. 14. It also disclosed changes to its disputed claims reserve that, if approved by the bankruptcy court, could free up additional cash for near-term payouts.
FTX’s wind-down is unfolding on two parallel tracks: returning money to customers and creditors, while aggressively pursuing litigation aimed at pulling funds back from parties that received them before the exchange collapsed in November 2022.
Payouts move forward as litigation continues
The estate has already distributed billions of dollars across earlier rounds and has said recovered assets now exceed $15 billion, a dramatic turnaround from the roughly $8 billion shortfall identified shortly after FTX entered bankruptcy.
Those recoveries have allowed some creditor classes to expect full repayment and, in certain cases, more than 100% of the original claim value. Still, the estate continues to argue that additional funds are owed, particularly from counterparties it believes received preferential transfers in the months leading up to the collapse.
Genesis challenges clawback claims
One of the largest of those disputes involves Genesis Digital Assets, a major bitcoin mining company that is fighting a lawsuit brought by the FTX estate seeking roughly $1 billion, according to Bloomberg Law.
The case is part of the estate’s broader clawback strategy, which focuses on transactions executed before FTX imploded. Lawyers for Genesis have moved to dismiss the suit, disputing both the factual claims and the legal basis for attempting to recover the funds.
If successful, the estate argues, clawbacks like the Genesis case could materially increase the pool of assets available for future distributions. Defendants, however, have warned that the litigation risks rewriting settled transactions years after the fact.
A winding-down that is still expanding
FTX’s bankruptcy has become one of the most complex in crypto history, blending conventional insolvency proceedings with high-stakes litigation tied to a web of pre-collapse financial relationships.
Founder Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison last year after being convicted on fraud-related charges, but the legal aftermath of FTX’s failure continues to widen. As payouts inch closer to completion for many creditors, the estate’s courtroom battles suggest the final accounting is still far from settled.
For now, March 31 marks the next concrete milestone, another step toward returning funds, even as billion-dollar disputes shape how much ultimately comes back.
Gunel Ismayilova
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