The
so-called
“property
rights”
objections
–
including
that
creditors
should
be
able
to
get
their
holdings
back
in-kind,
rather
than
in
cash,
and
that
creditors
are
entitled
to
the
other
property
of
the
estate
–
were
also
overruled
after
FTX’s
lawyers
and
expert
witnesses,
including
Edgar
Mosley,
a
managing
director
at
consulting
firm
Alvarez
and
Marsal,
testified
that
it
would
be
impossible
to
return
their
crypto
in-kind
because
the
estate
simply
did
not
have
those
assets.
The
exchange’s
ability
to
repay
customers
is
due
to
the
liquidation
of
certain
investments
made
by
FTX
and
Alameda,
including
an
8%
stake
in
AI
startup
Anthropic
(sold
for
$884
million),
the
dramatic
rise
in
crypto
prices
since
the
exchange’s
collapse
two
years
ago
and
clawback
efforts
by
the
estate.
When
current
FTX
CEO
John
J.
Ray
III
took
over
from
former
CEO
and
convicted
fraudster
Sam
Bankman-Fried,
the
exchange’s
coffers
were
nearly
empty,
containing
only
a
sliver
of
the
crypto
it
owed
its
customers
–
for
example,
only
105
bitcoin
(worth
about
$17,000
at
the
time)
remained
on
the
exchange,
compared
to
the
nearly
100,000
customers
had
deposited.