Some FTX Customers Can Withdraw Their Money—in Japan, at least. Tokyo regulators see resumption as a success after the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange
The collapse of FTX has set off the largest crypto-related bankruptcy ever, and court filings are already shedding light on what went wrong and how complicated things could get.
TOKYO—The Japanese subsidiary of bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX said it started allowing customers to withdraw their assets on Tuesday, a relatively quick reboot that Tokyo regulators see as the fruit of their strict crypto laws.
The situation in Japan contrasts with the U.S. and other countries, where most FTX customers are a long way from getting access to their assets more than three months after the exchange’s U.S. bankruptcy filing.
Japan, which was burned by the collapse of the early cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox in 2014 and a later hacking case, introduced laws requiring exchanges to register with authorities and mandating that they keep their customers’ money separate from their own accounts.
That paved the way for FTX Japan on Tuesday to restore customers’ access to their accounts.
“Japan’s investor protection proved to be working appropriately compared with other countries,” said a report in December by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
