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The long-running FTX bankruptcy saga has taken a new turn after it was revealed that creditors are being repaid based on cryptocurrency prices from November 2022 — the date of the exchange’s collapse. This means that while the exchange’s estate is flush with recovered assets, customers who lost funds are receiving payouts valued at the bear-market lows, missing out on the extraordinary gains that Bitcoin (BTC) and Solana (SOL) have achieved since.
Payments Based on 2022 Prices Leave Creditors Shortchanged
According to the latest court filings, FTX customers are being compensated based on the value of their crypto holdings at the time the exchange declared bankruptcy on November 11, 2022. This valuation puts Bitcoin at roughly $17,000 and Solana at just $14 — a fraction of their 2025 prices.
Today, Bitcoin trades near $110,000 and Solana above $190, meaning those who held these assets on FTX effectively miss out on 500%–1,000% gains. Instead of receiving their original cryptocurrency, creditors are getting dollarized repayments calculated at 2022 levels.
On-chain analyst ZachXBT called out former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) for misrepresenting this process. Responding to SBF’s social media claims that the “money was recovered,” ZachXBT clarified that creditors are being paid at outdated prices, not at the current market value. “He learned nothing from prison — still spreading the same misinformation,” ZachXBT said.
The Reality Behind the “Full Repayment” Claims
FTX’s bankruptcy team, led by CEO John J. Ray III, has emphasized that over 98% of creditors have received between 119% and 143% of their claim values. However, these figures are based on November 2022 valuations — meaning the apparent “profit” is purely nominal when compared to current crypto prices.
For example, a customer with 1 BTC in their FTX account will receive about $17,000 in repayment, despite that Bitcoin now trades more than six times higher. Similarly, a user who held 1,000 SOL would get about $14,000, even though those same tokens are now worth nearly $190,000.
ZachXBT argues that these payments reflect the letter of the bankruptcy law, not the spirit of fairness. “The estate did what it had to legally,” he explained, “but customers are the ones left paying the price for Sam’s fraud.”
FTX Estate’s Asset Recovery
According to bankruptcy filings, the FTX estate has recovered and identified more than $5.5 billion in liquid assets, including:
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$1.7 billion in cash holdings
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$253 million worth of Bahamian real estate
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$4.6 billion in investments spread across over 300 companies
Among these investments are stakes in Stocktwits, Anthropic, Starkware, MystenLabs, Chipper, Paxos, and Genesis Digital Assets. These holdings appreciated significantly as the crypto and tech markets rebounded throughout 2024 and 2025, boosting the estate’s value far beyond the initial estimates.
After paying $8 billion in customer claims and $1 billion in legal fees, the estate reportedly still holds around $8 billion in remaining assets, suggesting that the recovery process has been far more successful than expected.
Equity Holders Face Total Losses
While most FTX customers are recovering some portion of their losses, equity investors have not been as fortunate. Venture capital backers who collectively poured $1.95 billion into the company are receiving just $230 million in total — less than 12% of their original investment.
Legal analysts note that this reflects the typical bankruptcy hierarchy, where customer claims take priority over equity investors. However, the massive gap between the recovered asset values and the repayment calculations continues to stir frustration among both groups.
SBF and the Ongoing Public Backlash
Even from prison, Sam Bankman-Fried has continued to make public statements defending his actions and attempting to reframe the FTX recovery narrative. In a recent social media post, SBF claimed that “the estate now has more money than customers ever deposited.”
This statement prompted backlash from analysts and victims alike. ZachXBT and others in the crypto community criticized the claim as misleading, pointing out that the recovered assets are the result of appreciation since 2022 — not evidence of excess cash during FTX’s operational period.
Many have accused SBF of attempting to rewrite history by downplaying his role in the exchange’s downfall and painting the bankruptcy estate as the villain. In reality, court filings and testimony have already established that FTX misused billions of dollars in customer funds through its trading affiliate, Alameda Research.
The Collapse That Changed Crypto
FTX’s implosion in November 2022 remains one of the darkest moments in cryptocurrency history. The crisis began after CoinDesk revealed that Alameda Research held most of its balance sheet in FTT, FTX’s native token. The news triggered panic among investors and mass withdrawals.
When Binance announced plans to sell its FTT holdings, the token’s value crashed, and FTX quickly found itself insolvent. Binance briefly considered rescuing the exchange but backed out after discovering deep financial irregularities.
Within days, FTX, Alameda, and over 100 affiliated entities filed for bankruptcy. The collapse wiped out billions in user deposits, shook market confidence, and triggered global regulatory scrutiny of crypto exchanges.
A Recovery Clouded by Controversy
Although the estate’s recovery efforts have been more successful than expected, the repayment structure has reignited debate over how crypto bankruptcies should be handled. Many experts believe future cases will push for digital asset claims to be paid in-kind — meaning customers receive the same type and quantity of cryptocurrency they originally deposited, rather than fiat equivalents.
For now, FTX’s creditors are left with mixed feelings. On paper, they’ve been “fully repaid.” In reality, they’ve missed out on historic gains in Bitcoin and Solana, whose combined rise since 2022 could have turned small balances into fortunes.
The saga underscores one of the central ironies of the crypto industry: even in recovery, trust and transparency remain as valuable — and elusive — as the digital assets themselves.
