FTX Token Briefly Surges 18% On GBTC Sales

FTT jumped 18% to $2.94 from $2.48 in the span of three hours on Jan. 22 as news hit that FTX’s bankruptcy estate was responsible for a significant portion of the $2B in outflows from GBTC.

The token has since drifted back to $2.63 at the time of writing.

A potential explanation is that FTT buyers are anticipating a windfall as FTX goes through bankruptcy proceedings — staking the token granted holders trading discounts on FTX before the exchange shuttered in November 2022.

The move by FTX’s bankruptcy estate to liquidate nearly $1B worth of GBTC could represent a tangible step in claimants' eligibility to recoup some losses left in the wake of the platform’s collapse.

There’s been no official statement, however, that FTT holders specifically will gain any tangible benefit from holding the asset.

Traders have used FTT to speculate on FTX’s bankruptcy proceedings before — the token spiked in January 2023 on news that John Ray, who took over the operation, had not ruled out restarting FTX.

The token also tripled from Nov. 8 to Nov. 10 as reports hit that Tom Farley, former president of the New York Stock Exchange, was interested in restarting FTX.

FTT made up a large portion of the balance sheet of FTX’s sister hedge fund, Alameda Research. It ultimately became clear that the hedge fund had been misusing FTX customers’ assets, leading to the collapse of both operations.