FTX clients launch a class action lawsuit against the bankrupt crypto exchange and its former executives to save their wealth.
"Members of the customer group should not have to stand in line with secured or unsecured creditors in this bankruptcy proceeding just to participate in the diminished assets of FTX Group and Alameda," the lawsuit said Tuesday in the US bankruptcy court in Delaware.
Insolvency administrators in the Bahamas and Antigua as well as administrators of the bankruptcy estate of Blockfi, another insolvent crypto company, are already fighting over the remaining assets of the crypto exchange.
FTX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The plaintiffs want to ensure that traceable customer assets are not included in the bankruptcy estate of either FTX or Almeda.
If, contrary to this, the court should find that the customer funds are the property of the crypto companies, the private customers will demand a priority right to repayment over other creditors.
Crypto companies are lightly regulated and are often based outside of the United States.
Therefore, deposits are not guaranteed as with American banks and brokers.
This raises the question of whether the company or the customers own the deposited funds.