FTX Japan Plans to Resume User Withdrawals in February

It has been claimed that FTX Japan, the Japanese affiliate of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, intends to begin withdrawals for impacted consumers as early as the month of February.

As part of the procedure to start enabling withdrawals, FTX Japan is said to have sent out messages requesting customers to verify their account balances as part of the process that began on February 17 and was reported by Bloomberg. According to reports, the chief operating officer of the exchange, Seth Melamed, said that customers will be able to move assets to accounts on the Liquid Global platform, which is controlled by FTX, and that withdrawals would begin “very soon.”

Melamed expressed confidence that the deadline will be adhered to, saying, “We are certain that we will.”

In November 2022, FTX Group filed a petition for protection under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. This action was taken in conjunction with three of the company’s 134 subsidiaries: FTX Japan Holdings, FTX Japan, and FTX Japan Services. However, the Financial Services Agency of Japan (also known as FSA) had recommended that FTX Japan halt business orders prior to the bankruptcy filing in the United States.

Forth response to a directive from the FSA, FTX Japan sent in a proposal with December 2022 in the hopes of getting user withdrawals back up and running. The strategy proposed that FTX Japan customer assets should not be included in the firm’s bankruptcy proceedings, noting requirements stating exchanges must keep customer money distinct from their own funds.

According to a report by the news organization NHK, FTX Japan had around 19.6 billion yen in cash when company suspended operations in November. This was equivalent to more than $138 million at the time. On the other hand, it has been claimed that creditors of FTX had collected more than $5 billion in cash and cryptocurrency as of January.