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Key Takeaways

• Former FTX customers with claims of $50,000 or less will begin receiving repayments in early 2025.

• An effective date for repayments has been set for January 3, 2025 and payments are to be made within 60 days of the effective date.

• While the bankruptcy plan has been touted as a solution that provides the vast majority of customers with 119% of their account values, the reality is users will have missed out on the massive gains in the crypto market since November 2022.

• Crypto exchange Kraken and crypto custodian BitGo are set to assist with the bankruptcy distributions.

More than two years after the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, some of its customers will start getting their money back early next year.

FTX's reorganization plan to repay debtors is set to take effect on Jan. 3, 2025 with actual payments being made shortly after, the company announced Monday.

“We are well positioned to begin executing the distribution of recoveries back to all customers and creditors,” said FTX CEO John J. Ray III.

FTX Repayment Timeline

The first batch of customers will begin receiving payments within 60 days of the Jan. 3 effective date, provided they meet certain conditions.

The initial repayments will prioritize the “convenience classes,” primarily customers with claims of $50,000 or less. Subsequent repayment groups that likely include larger debtors will be announced later as the process unfolds.

To assist with the distribution of the recovery funds, FTX has enlisted crypto firms Kraken and BitGo.

FTX Customers To Be Repaid At Last, But Is It Enough?

FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in late 2022 following a liquidity crisis. Earlier this year, its former co-founder and former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried received a 25-year prison sentence for his role in the fraud that took place at the exchange.

After a lengthy bankruptcy and recovery process, FTX now has between $14.7 billion and $16.5 billion to repay its customers and other debtors. In October, a bankruptcy judge approved FTX's reorganization plan, which includes a timeline for repaying 98% of users more than what they lost (roughly 119%) of their claimed account value.

However, these repayment calculations are based on the U.S. dollar-value of customer deposits as of November 2022. In other words, customers have missed out on the massive rally in the bitcoin and greater crypto markets that has ensued since that time.

For example, bitcoin (BTCUSD) was trading roughly around $17,000 on Nov. 11, 2022; today its value is more than $105,000.

Read the original article on Investopedia