Investors like Temasek might get money back from FTX

After assets are sold, customers and other creditors to be paid first before investors

- Claire Huang

Customers and creditors burnt by the bankruptcy of American cryptocurrency exchange FTX are projected to get payouts and these might be extended to the firm's investors, including Sequoia, SoftBank and Singapore's Temasek.

The development comes as FTX said on May 8 that almost all customers who lost money in the November 2022 collapse of the exchange will get their money back.

It said it owes creditors about US$11.2 billion (S$15 billion) but the firm has between US$14.5 billion and US$16.3 billion to distribute to customers and non-governmental creditors after it sells all its assets.

Mr Robson Lee, a partner at law firm Kennedys Legal Solutions, told The Straits Times that in bankruptcy proceedings, customers and other creditors get paid first before investors.

FTX laid out a proposal to a US bankruptcy court that the payouts will be based on what accounts were worth in late 2022 when the market was down. The repayments will be pegged to the US dollar and these have drawn the ire of creditors.