Founder of FTX Sam Bankman Fried extradited to the US as FTT collapses below $1

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX, has apparently signed up to be extradited to the United States. As we know, SBF and FTX have been the focus of the entire crypto industry in recent months. 

After the collapse of FTX, investors who had entrusted their funds to the platform lost billions. The exchange consequently declared bankruptcy and Sam Bankman-Fried resigned as CEO.

Recently, SBF was arrested in the Bahamas. However, the United States was calling for SBF’s extradition, while its legal team initially expressed that they would fight the extradition.

Now, the ongoing uncertainty over whether extradition would be denied or continued has been settled.

Sam Bankman Fried, the founder of FTX, extradited to the United States: details 

The Bahamas’ acting commissioner of corrections, Doan Cleare, told Reuters that the documents for SBF’s extradition were signed on Tuesday. A court official also informed them that a hearing on the SBF case will be held on Wednesday at 11 AM (EST).

SBF is currently facing charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Department of Justice, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. He faces many different charges, including money laundering and securities fraud. The current report that has emerged on the SBF decision will calm the confusion over his extradition to the United States.

In addition, Fried is currently being held in the Fox Hill prison in the Bahamas. Once extradited to the United States, he will most likely be held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. SBF is also reportedly due for a hearing within 48 hours of his entry into the country.

However, the catastrophic fall of the FTX exchange not only destroyed SBF but also shook the entire cryptocurrency world. As a matter of fact, the market, which was slowly recovering from Terra‘s fall in May, did not expect the collapse of one of the biggest cryptocurrency giants.

After SBF: $1 billion in assets identified by new FTX management

Coindesk reports that the new management behind FTX has identified $1 billion in assets, including $720 million in cash. The report also comes amid the platform’s bankruptcy following reports of criminal activity by founder Sam Bankman-Fried and top company executives. The news is also reported on Twitter, by Watcher.Guru, which reads: 

JUST IN: FTX new management says the company has located over $1 billion in assets, including $720 million in cash.

— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) December 20, 2022

The new management team behind FTX is reportedly working to access the millions through hundreds of various bank accounts. The platform is attempting to address the cryptocurrency exchange’s financial shortcomings, according to statements made to creditors this week.

The news came at a procedural hearing this week, following the US Department of Justice’s authorization to withhold funds. In addition, another nearly $500 million is already being held by US institutions.

FTX’s new Chief Financial Officer, Mary Cilia, spoke under oath during the bankruptcy proceedings, stating: 

“We are contacting all those banks and changing the signatories on the accounts so that we can access the accounts and transfer the money as much as possible to a licensed depository institution.”

Cilia further added that about $130 million are blocked in Japan. This is because local regulations there have reserved funds for local customers, she reported. While another $6 million is left for operating expenses.

FTT falls below $1, in bankruptcy the token of the FTX exchange founded by Sam Bankman Fried 

Apparently, for the first time since FTX collapsed, FTT breaks $1 support and falls below the price range. Specifically, FTT, the ERC20 token linked to the now defunct FTX exchange, fell below the $1 support line on Monday, 19 December 2022. 

Interestingly, unlike the collapse of Terra and the underwater bombing of the native LUNA token to zero, FTT fell from $25.78 per coin on 5 November 2022, to about $1.59 per unit on 14 November, three days after FTX filed for bankruptcy protection.

FTT, in fact, touched $1.92 per coin the next day, 15 November, and would not see that price height again after that point. For 38 consecutive days since 12 November, FTT has been below $2 and above the $1 range, and it touched a high of $1.88 per coin on 9 December. Eleven days later it reached its all-time low on 19 December.

The exchange’s token fell to $0.894 per unit around 2:30 PM (ET) Monday afternoon. On Tuesday, however, FTT was down 8.6% against the US dollar. In addition, FTT’s market capitalization grade is not applicable because the project’s contract distributor unblocked FTT tokens locked in circulation last month.

In addition, coin market capitalization aggregators such as Coingecko.com do not rank the cryptographic asset limit among the thousands of other cryptographic assets listed. It is assumed that there is a total supply of 328,895,112 FTT tokens in circulation, and in the last 24 hours, FTT recorded a global trading volume of $7.26 million.

FTT trading volumes have declined greatly since the collapse of FTX, and today the most active FTT trading is taking place on Binance, Kucoin, and Sushiswap. While FTT has fallen below the $1 support, the crypto asset has remained consolidated just below that region at prices between $0.89 and $0.98 per unit.