FTX-Owned Liquid to Return Customer Funds Next Year

Japanese crypto exchange Liquid, which now-collapsed FTX owns, announced plans to return customer assets that will begin in 2023. The process of asset return will be opened for the accounts holders with FTX Japan and Liquid Japan.

FTX Liquid to Resume Withdrawals

"For the assets entrusted to us by our customers at FTX Japan and Liquid Japan, we are proceeding with system development so that withdrawals will be possible from the Liquid Japan web version. Specifically, you will be able to check your FTX Japan balance from the Liquid Japan web version, and then you will be able to withdraw/take out," Liquid stated in an announcement (translated from Japanese) on Thursday.

However, Liquid Japan users will be able to withdraw their holdings from the platform as usual.

Liquid halted all withdrawals on 15 November following the liquidity crunch faced by its parent company. In addition, the platform suspended all trading activities on 21 November, citing the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing of the company in the United States.

The decision of Liquid to return customers' funds came after a reassurance to its customers on 13 December that it has not forgotten its clients.

We are cooperating with FTX Debtors as it relates to Liquid. We have not forgotten about our users, and we will provide further updates when we can. Thank you for your ongoing patience and understanding.

An Extensive Presence in Japan

The company closed the acquisition of Liquid and its subsidiaries last March. However, the companies did not disclose the financial terms of the deal. Apart from Japan, the platform has a presence in Singapore and Vietnam. However, the platform did not specify anything for the account holders from the other two countries.

In a court filing earlier this month, the company sought permission to sell four independent subsidiaries, one of which is FTX Japan. Meanwhile, Japan's Kanto Local Finance Bureau suspended the operations of FTX Japan until 9 March 2023 following the Bahamas-headquartered cryptocurrency exchange.

Furthermore, the company is facing regulatory pressure from other global regulators. The financial market regulators in Australia and Cyprus also suspended the local licenses of FTX subsidiaries, while the Bahamas opened civil and criminal probes against the exchange. FTX's Founder and former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, is facing criminal charges in the United States, while two other top executives have already pled guilty and are cooperating with the investigation into the exchange by US law enforcement.