FTX's Billion-Dollar Repayment Plan Sparks Controversy
FTX plans multi-billion repayment, Sophon raises $60M, Gensler tired of crypto queries, LocalMonero shuts down.
Welcome to today’s edition of Datawallet Daily. Here are the standout stories shaping the crypto space over the past 24 hours:
- FTX Proposes Billions in Compensation, Not Everyone Is Happy
- Sophon Blockchain Raises $60M Through ‘Node Sale’
- SEC’s Gary Gensler Annoyed by Persistent Crypto Questions
- LocalMonero Shuts Down After Seven Years in Operation
FTX's Billion-Dollar Repayment Plan Sparks Controversy
FTX has proposed a repayment plan to address its 2022 bankruptcy, suggesting it may distribute between $14.5 and $16.3 billion to creditors. The plan, pending approval from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, includes repaying 100% of bankruptcy claims plus interest for non-governmental creditors.
However, the repayments are based on the assets’ value at the time of FTX’s collapse rather than current market prices, despite substantial recent growth in the cryptocurrency market. This has led to dissatisfaction among some creditors and industry experts, who feel the proposal does not fully cover the current value of their lost investments.
Bankrupt @FTX_Official plans to offer 98% of creditors a 118% payout “plus billions in compensation” to the rest. pic.twitter.com/EmnLJXH9Jt
— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) May 7, 2024
Sophon Blockchain Raises $60M Through ‘Node Sale’
The blockchain project Sophon has successfully raised over $60 million through a node sale, an innovative fundraising approach gaining traction as token sales face increased regulatory scrutiny. Sophon, focusing on entertainment within blockchain, sold approximately 121,000 nodes from a total of 200,000, earning around 20,391 ETH.
This sale structure, which utilizes pricing tiers increasing costs over time, is designed to help decentralize the network and offers investors the chance to earn future token rewards. Despite its success, the identity of Sophon’s founders remains semi-anonymous, underscoring the project’s speculative nature yet significant investor interest.
A quick update regarding the @sophon node sale
— seb ∎ (@0xsebastiena) May 3, 2024
It's come to my attention that a lot of folks were weary of the node sale and questioning the technical legitimacy of what we were doing, and thus of the overall project.
My fault for not explaining this better in our docs - I…
SEC’s Gary Gensler Annoyed by Persistent Crypto Questions
SEC Chair Gary Gensler expressed frustration over the disproportionate amount of attention and questions he receives about cryptocurrencies, highlighting that while the crypto market represents only $2.4 trillion, the broader U.S. capital markets amount to $110 trillion. He emphasized that the focus on crypto is inflated given its size and compliance issues with U.S. securities laws, leading to a significant portion of market scams and frauds.
Gensler noted the media’s focus seems disproportionately skewed towards crypto, despite its smaller scale compared to the overall financial market. He responded to critiques about the SEC’s approach to regulating cryptocurrencies, stressing that many do not provide necessary disclosures and are considered securities by legal standards.
SEC Chair @GaryGensler: "Crypto is a small piece of our overall markets. But it's an outsize piece of the scams and frauds and problems in our markets." pic.twitter.com/UIbTLfTDuN
— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) May 7, 2024
LocalMonero Shuts Down After Seven Years in Operation
LocalMonero, a peer-to-peer exchange for the Monero cryptocurrency, announced it will cease operations after nearly seven years, citing “internal and external factors.” The platform, which facilitated direct transactions of Monero between users, did not specify the reasons for its closure. The shutdown process began immediately with new signups disabled, and trading will end on May 14.
The complete closure, including the website, is set for November. Despite this, LocalMonero expressed optimism about the future growth of the Monero ecosystem, referencing new Monero-focused DEXs and privacy enhancements. This follows a similar shutdown by LocalBitcoins a year earlier.
Hey everyone,
— LocalMonero (@LocalMoneroCo) May 7, 2024
After almost 7 years of operation, we have made the difficult decision to close our platform.
The winding-down process begins today, and finishes 6 months from now. Our support will be available for help throughout this period.
Read more:https://t.co/66gqe5HFpc
Other breaking news
- Polygon Debuts Alpha Testnet for STARK-Based Layer 2 Miden
- Binance Team Helps Arrest ZKasino Scam Suspect
- Wintermute to Supply Liquidity for Hong Kong’s Bitcoin and Ether ETFs
- Validators Now Collect More MEV on Solana Than on Ethereum
- Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund Leads $13.2M Seed Round for Lagrange Labs
For the latest updates on digital asset markets, follow us on X @Datawalletcom.