FTX sues NFT Stars and Kurosemi in push to recover tokens

Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX has filed lawsuits against the non-fungible token marketplace NFT Stars and the blockchain gaming firm Kurosemi, which operates as Delysium, accusing them of withholding tokens they owed.

The lawsuits, both filed in the Delaware bankruptcy court, alleged that NFT Stars and Delysium failed to deliver all the tokens paid for by FTX despite repeated attempts to resolve the matter.

FTX claimed in an April 28 statement that it made “numerous unanswered attempts” to engage with both firms, and it would be “contacting numerous other token and coin issuers regarding FTX assets and will be filing additional suits against non-responsive parties.”

As part of the complaint against Delysium, FTX claimed its defunct trading arm, Alameda Research, paid $1 million in January 2022 for 75 million of the gaming firm’s AGI tokens.

It claimed the original token launch was in April 2023, and Alameda Research’s share of the tokens was subject to a vesting schedule that started with 20% unlocking after 12 months.

However, FTX said the timeframe was extended to 48 months and then halted altogether due to its bankruptcy following its collapse in November 2022. 

Meanwhile, FTX’s complaint against marketplace NFT Stars claimed it paid $325,000 in November 2021 for 1.35 million SENATE tokens and 135 million SIDUS tokens.

After a partial delivery, FTX claimed NFT Stars halted delivery of the remaining 831,000 SENATE tokens and 83 million SIDUS tokens, also due to the bankruptcy proceedings, the company claimed.

FTX asked the court to award it the remaining tokens plus damages, arguing the tokens hit a peak value and could have been sold for a profit had they been delivered on time.

Delysium’s token AGI hit a peak price of $0.672 in May 2024, according to CoinGecko. It has since lost 90% of its value and is trading for $0.067.

SENATE reached $5.85 in January 2022 but has since lost 99% of its value, while Sidus hit its top price so far of $0.19 in January 2022 as well, but has since plunged 99%, CoinGecko data shows.

NFT Stars and Delysium didn’t immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s requests for comment.

FTX has been trying to claw back funds it claims are owed to the collapsed crypto exchange. 

Related: Shaquille O’Neal reaches settlement in FTX lawsuit, terms remain secret

In November last year, it filed a trio of lawsuits, one against SkyBridge Capital and its founder, Anthony Scaramucci, to recoup funds spent by former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried on sponsorship and investment deals. 

Another suit was filed against crypto exchange Binance and its former CEO, Changpeng Zhao, in a bid to recover $1.76 billion worth of cryptocurrency sent to the exchange as part of a July 2021 repurchase deal.

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