FTX's Secret Liquidation of 3AC Assets Revealed

Recent court documents have unveiled that FTX liquidated $1.53 billion in assets belonging to Three Arrows Capital (3AC) just two weeks prior to the hedge fund’s collapse in 2022. This revelation contradicts earlier narratives that attributed 3AC’s downfall solely to market conditions. Once valued at over $10 billion, 3AC faced a significant crisis after a series of leveraged trades went awry, leading to its eventual bankruptcy amid the May 2022 crypto crash, which saw Bitcoin plummet to $16,000. The hedge fund had borrowed extensively from over 20 large institutions before its collapse.

The newly discovered evidence indicates that 3AC was unaware of FTX’s liquidation actions due to the latter’s own bankruptcy proceedings. As a result, 3AC has sought to increase its claim against FTX from $120 million to the full $1.53 billion, asserting that it only recently became aware of the liquidations. A court has ruled that 3AC acted in good faith, allowing it to pursue this larger claim in the ongoing bankruptcy case of FTX. Meanwhile, a British Virgin Islands court has frozen $1.14 billion in assets belonging to 3AC co-founders Kyle Davies and Su Zhu, as Teneo estimates that creditors are still owed approximately $3.3 billion following the hedge fund’s collapse.

Despite the significant sum involved, analysts suggest that even with the additional $1.53 billion, 3AC might not have been able to avert bankruptcy. Nicolai Sondergaard, a research analyst at Nansen, indicated that the hedge fund likely would not have met creditor claims or debt repayments even with the liquidated assets. The situation has drawn attention from industry figures, including Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao, who expressed curiosity about FTX’s potential involvement in the broader market turmoil during that period. The fallout from 3AC’s collapse continues to reverberate through the crypto landscape, raising questions about the interconnectedness of various entities in the market.