$136B Shock: SBF Team Says FTX Was Never Insolvent, Just Illiquid
Sam Bankman-Fried's (SBF) team really stirred up a storm on Friday, when they dropped new documents that say - despite FTX...
Quick overview
- Sam Bankman-Fried's team claims FTX had $136 billion in assets at the time of bankruptcy, contradicting previous beliefs about its financial state.
- They assert that $8 billion of customer assets remained on the exchange and that 98% of creditors have recovered more than they were owed.
- Critics argue that the valuations presented by SBF's team are misleading and that customer losses are still significant.
- The controversy has sparked political discussions regarding potential pardons for SBF and regulatory biases in the crypto industry.
Sam Bankman-Fried’s (SBF) team really stirred up a storm on Friday, when they dropped new documents that say – despite FTX going bust and bouncing into bankruptcy protection in November 2022 – the defunct crypto exchange was never in a bad financial spot after all. According to their findings, FTX was sitting on a massive $136 billion in assets as of the date they filed for bankruptcy; a lot more than people had been led to believe.
In a post on X (Twitter, old name) from October 31st, the team said that roughly $8 billion of those customer assets “never actually left the exchange” when the lawyers filed for bankruptcy. And they added that a whopping 98% of creditors have already recovered more than they were owed, to the tune of 120%, with total recoveries looking set to range between 119 and 143% once all claims are finally settled.
SBF’s team says the FTX collapse was actually due to a liquidity crunch when loads of people withdrew their cash at the same time, rather than the exchange being actually broke. They’re also claiming that FTX’s external lawyers overstepped their mark and muscled in on the exchange, just when things were getting a bit scary.
Some of the financial claims made by the SBF team are:
- $8 billion worth of customer claims repaid in full
- $1 billion in legal and administrative fees
- $8 billion is still hanging around after all the repayments
Despite all this, the broader crypto community remains skeptical, with many calling the SBF team’s post just another attempt to rewrite history.
FTX had Billions Invested in Stocks and Crypto Assets
Documents shared by the SBF team list FTX’s holdings at the time of bankruptcy as $136 billion, with a portfolio that included major tech and crypto investments. So that included $14.3 billion in Anthropic, $7.6 billion in Robinhood (HOOD), $1.2 billion in Genesis Digital Assets, and $600 million in SpaceX (via K5 Global).
Crypto assets were just as impressive:
- 58 million SOL (worth about $12.4B)
- 890 million SUI (worth about $2.9B)
- 205,000 BTC (worth about $2.3B)
- 225.4 million XRP (worth about $600M)
- 112,600 ETH (worth about $500M)
- $1.7B in cash and $345M in stablecoins
These figures have naturally sparked a whole debate about whether FTX’s apparent collapse was actually misrepresented. But, of course, critics argue that the valuations at the time of bankruptcy were a lot lower, so customer losses are still a real thing.
Community Backlash and a Glimpse into Politics
Crypto analysts and influencers were quick to shoot down the SBF team’s claims. On-chain sleuth ZachXBT accused SBF of spreading misinformation, noting that creditors were repaid at 2022 prices, not at today’s higher prices.
The controversy has also spilled over into politics. Some community members are warning against a potential presidential pardon for SBF, saying it’s part of a broader debate about regulatory bias—and that Donald Trump’s pardon of Binance founder CZ has brought this to the fore.
Despite the attempts to reshape the narrative, the crypto industry is largely viewing SBF’s latest claims as just another bit of PR spin, rather than a genuine financial revelation.
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