As the Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) crypto exchange is in trouble, the securities regulator in the Bahamas decided to freeze the assets of FTX.com. In a statement last Tuesday, the Bahamas Securities Commission said that the decision to freeze the FTX Digital Market was a "prudent act".
FTX.com is registered in the Bahamas and has been operating for the past few years. The authorities have also appointed a provisional liquidator to assess whether the company is sound or needs to be liquidated.
This is the first major step taken by securities regulators at FTX.com after the crisis over the past week. However, the head of FTX has refused to file for bankruptcy and has been working hard for new financing that cost $9.4 billion.
In its statement, the Bahamas regulator wrote:
“The Commission is aware of public statements suggesting that client assets have been mismanaged and/or transferred to Alameda Research. Based on the commission's information, any such action would be contrary to normal governance, without the customer's consent and potentially illegal.”
FTX Digital Markets operates as a subsidiary of Bahamian FTX Trading, also known as FTX.com. It offers derivatives, options and other products and services to clients.
The head of FTX announced the closure of the Alameda investigation last Thursday. In addition, the SEC is also investigating Sam Bankman-Fried for any possible violations of securities regulations.
FTX US general counsel, Ryne Miller, said:
“FTX US looks set to cut jobs at least in the next cycle. Employees should be prepared to make their own choices that are appropriate for their personal situation in the next step.”
In a tweet on Thursday, SBF said that FTX US was not financially affected by the operation of FTX.com. However, FTX US may stop its trading activities in a few days and users have been asked to close any trading positions.
