After FTX, it was the turn of crypto lending platform BlockFi to seek creditor protection under Chapter 11 insolvency law in the United States. The lawsuit was filed in a New Jersey court about a month after FTX collapsed.
The company lists more than 100,000 creditors in the documents that started the lawsuit and are cited by various international press outlets. The table features FTX’s second-largest creditor, with $275 million in debt to the platform, which until recently was led by Sam Bankman-Fried.
The list is topped by Ankura Trust, a creditor representation company, with a $729 million loan. BlockFi has already issued a red alert to the market, freezing the withdrawal of assets from the platform.
In July, FTX signed a $400 million credit line agreement with BlockFi with the option to acquire the FTX platform for up to $240 million in the event of default. This came after the collapse of the crypto market in the first half of the year was exacerbated by the collapse of the Terra USD ecosystem and brought the platform to the ground.
The risk of infection remains
The collapse of FTX is starting to infect other “players” in the market. The crisis of confidence experienced during the “collapse” of the Terra USD ecosystem has returned, and several platforms have already frozen the withdrawal of assets. In addition to BlockFi, Genesis, a platform primarily dedicated to crypto lending, has suspended asset buyback operations, citing an “abnormal number of withdrawal requests” for its decision.
Redemption requests made on the platform’s crypto-deposit arm, Genesis Global Capital, have exceeded the company’s liquidity, so the company, along with a team of advisors, is exploring a range of options to try to get back to normal, according to Acting CEO Dear Islim, Bloomberg was quoted as saying. The Gemini Trust, led by the Winklevoss twins, has also decided to freeze the withdrawal of assets from the Gemini Earn program, designed for deposits that earn interest on the “tokens” held. The company guaranteed that this decision would not affect other products or services.
In turn, the Hong Kong-based platform AXX suspended the withdrawal of assets for ten days this Monday, reporting a lack of liquidity. “If AAX is unable to obtain funding that will allow us to resume operations, we are committed to initiating legal procedures to ensure asset allocation,” the company said in a statement quoted by Bloomberg.
