SBF Claims FTX Was Never Insolvent, Highlights Asset Appreciation in New Document

Sam Bankman-Fried, the convicted founder of FTX, has released a document dated September 30, 2025, asserting that the crypto exchange was never insolvent and faced only a liquidity crisis. In the 14-page paper, shared via his X account, Bankman-Fried and his team contend that FTX always had sufficient assets to repay all customers in full, both at the time of its November 2022 bankruptcy and today.

The document states that the $8 billion owed to customers at the time of the collapse never left the estate, and creditors are now receiving between 119% and 143% of their petition-date claims, with about 98% already repaid at 120%. After covering customer claims and $1 billion in legal fees, the estate reportedly holds around $8 billion in remaining assets.

Bankman-Fried frames the FTX downfall as a classic bank run, triggered by panic withdrawals that spiked to billions of dollars in days. He claims deals were in motion by late November 2022 to bridge the shortfall, and customer withdrawals were resuming, but external counsel seized control, leading to the bankruptcy filing. The narrative disputes early statements from the bankruptcy team about asset shortfalls, arguing that FTX and Alameda assets exceeded liabilities in 2021 and through mid-2022.

The paper criticizes the bankruptcy estate's decisions, pointing to asset sales that it claims were poorly timed. It highlights stakes in tokens like Solana (SOL) and Sui (SUI), as well as private companies such as Anthropic, which have soared in value since the liquidations. The authors allege that if these assets had been held through the market rebound, their estimated values would be far higher, and they blame insider-favored pricing and high professional fees for eroding the estate's value.

Additionally, the document argues that dollarized payouts—where creditors receive the U.S. dollar value of their crypto as of November 11, 2022, rather than the coins themselves—deny customers the upside from the subsequent rally. It claims that if FTX and Alameda had survived, the FTT token would be worth nearly $22 billion today, compared to its use in propping up Alameda, as cited in Bankman-Fried's 2023 trial.

Contextually, FTX was once valued above $30 billion with over a million users before its rapid unraveling in 2022, following revelations about intertwined risks with Alameda and a failed rescue attempt. Bankman-Fried was convicted on seven counts in 2023 and sentenced to 25 years in prison with an $11 billion forfeiture in March 2024, a judgment he is appealing. The estate has defended its actions, stating it maximized recoveries through asset monetization and litigation wins, while creditors have prioritized speed and certainty over crypto upside.

This near-full recovery of customer funds based on petition-date values sets a rare precedent in crypto exchange collapses, sparking debate over asset management in volatile markets.