Bitcoin reclaimed $19,800 Friday afternoon to a reach new one-month high after eclipsing $19,000 on Thursday. The rise came after attorneys for bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX announced they recovered $5 billion in liquid assets. Ethereum, Binance Coin and Dogecoin also rose as the crypto markets shifted higher Thursday following the announcement from the failed crypto exchange.
Bitcoin climbed 5% to $19,800 Friday and peaked at $19,853 in the afternoon. The top crypto jumped 7% on Thursday to briefly reclaim its $19,000 level by the afternoon, but dipped back to $18,850 after the stock market closed.
Bitcoin Price Climbs, FTX Assets Recovered
During a Wednesday court hearing, FTX attorneys overseeing the bankruptcy proceedings announced they had recovered $5 billion in cash, digital and other liquid assets. The assets may be used to help repay the crypto exchange's 9 million creditors. The total owed to creditors is still unclear, but initial bankruptcy filings estimated the amount between $1 billion and $10 billion.
On Thursday, former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried detailed his account of the crypto exchange's insolvency in a lengthy Substack post. "I didn't steal funds, and I certainly didn't stash billions away. "Nearly all of my assets were and still are utilizable to backstop FTX customers," he wrote.
Bankman-Fried claims FTX US, the exchange's American outfit, held $352 million in cash beyond customer balances on its sheet when he stepped down. SBF continues to claim that FTX US is, and always has been, solvent. And, "even now, I believe that if FTX International were to reboot, there would be a real possibility of customers being made substantially whole."
Overall, Bankman-Fried believes (FTX sister crypto exchange) Alameda borrowed $8 billion in 2021 with only $7 billion in liquidity on hand and failed to sufficiently hedge exposure as broader crashes hit the market. However, he still blames Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao for "an extreme, quick, targeted crash," which made Alameda insolvent and then spread to FTX. Still, SBF didn't address the lavish personal spending by executives or lack of oversight.
Attorney John Ray III, acting as FTX CEO overseeing the bankruptcy, has been no ally of SBF. Ray had earlier criticized FTX operations, saying, "Never in my career have I seen such an utter failure of corporate controls at every level of an organization, from the lack of financial statements to a complete failure of any internal controls or governance whatsoever." Last week, Bankman-Fried plead not guilty to his host of criminal charges.
Bitcoin Price Chart
It's the first time BTC surpassed $19,000 since the collapse of crypto exchange FTX in early November. And the world's largest cryptocurrency has struggled to reach $18,000 in the months since.
With Bitcoin price back above $18,200, roughly 13% of the circulating supply has returned to profit, according to data from on-chain analytics firm Glassnode compiled by CoinTelegraph.
Cryptocurrency Price Action
A majority of cryptocurrencies also rose on the day as Bitcoin price recovered. Ethereum jumped more than 7% over the past two days to reach $1,420 — the highest level for the #2 crypto since the FTX meltdown. Since Thursday, Binance's BNB token climbed more than 3% to $290 for the first time since mid-December. And the popular alt-coin Dogecoin rose roughly 6.5% to over 8 cents for the first time in a month.
You can follow Harrison Miller for more stock news and updates on Twitter @IBD_Harrison
