After 27 months of uncertainty and waiting, the former crypto exchange’s bankruptcy estate sent out its first batch of repayments on Tuesday, with the release of$ 1.2 billion in customer assets trapped in FTX’s high-profile collapse.

For those that lost less than$ 50, 000 when FTX’s swift demise rocked the crypto market in November 2022, the moment represented a long-due reprieve.

The payments may provide some previous customers a sense of closing, but according to Sunil Kavuri—an activist and self-described” hero” for Cultural creditors—the approach is just getting started.

Kavuri informed that more than$ 16 billion in assets are still held by FTX’s bankruptcy estate, which will be used to pay back creditors with claims worth more than$ 50, 000 in the future.

Kavuri is one of the ones who will have to wait long. The activist, who has built a following around FTX’s body by helping former users recoup their goods, lost$ 2 million in the bank’s decline himself.

” It became my mission to maximize the recovery for FTX creditors ]and ] to support them through this depressing and dark time”, he said. ” People on Crypto Twitter generally thought that]creditors ] literally would get zero back”.

At that point, the pandemic-era bull move had now faded. Bitcoin‘s price was around$ 16, 500, while Ethereum and Solana respectively were changing hands at around$ 1, 250 and$ 16.

Between the initial hours of debt hearings and a historic bull work marked by administrative change and governmental shifts, Kavuri has been with the FTX creditors at every turn.

Now that some Cultural collectors are no longer sidelined, Kavuri fears several of Bankman-Fried’s sufferers will get on costly challenges to make up for lost time. He advises customers to protect their wealth properly and stay away from meme coin trenches, citing Solana joke coins like TRUMP and LIBRA as examples of high-profile gambling that have recently caused some traders to lose out.

” You missed the bull work, but don’t gamble your money aside”, said Kavuri, in recalling guidance for FTX debts. ” I’ve been posting a lot about being cautious with FTX payment”.

A New York federal judge sentenced Bankman-Fried to 25 years in prison in March, and Kavuri was present in the court. Federal prosecutors argued that the once-heroese wunderkind allegedly accessed$ 8 billion in customer resources as a personalized piggy banks during the test, which was followed by a thick word.

The event exposed how Cultural consumer funds were leveraged to fund political donations, a multitude of endeavor investments, and luxury real estate in the Bahamas. &nbsp,

A Manhattan jury couldn’t find the disgraced wunderkind guilty of seven counts of fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy after her arrest in less than a few hours. Bankman-Fried, who maintains his innocence, is pursuing an appeal from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York.

The crypto exchange Kraken and BitGo, a custodian services provider, are facilitating Tuesday’s distributions. However, many people eventually sold their claims to investment firms that specialize in purchasing bankruptcy claims.

Nearly half of the claims that were scheduled to be paid for on Tuesday, according to Kavuri, had been purchased by investment firms. He does not hold the creditors accountable for wanting to discharge themselves from an agonizing process.

Some “have sold because of the emotional distress,” according to Kavuri, adding that some FTX buyers claim to have bought them for as little as 10 cents on the dollar.

As Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire crumbled over the course of two years, Kavuri recalls feeling completely helpless. Helping set up a community, along with kind messages from followers, helped him pull through a tough situation, he said.

” I was no longer helpless and alone”, he said. ” I’ve heard of at least three suicides and several people who have gone to the hospital with panic attacks or are currently taking medication for depression,” I said.

Kavuri has recently spent a lot of time online explaining how the bankruptcy process will turn out. And while Kavuri worries about what the FTX creditors might do with the returned funds, he says they’ll be more successful than they were two years ago. &nbsp,

” I see a lot of the influencer posts that are literally begging for the FTX repayments to save their bags,” he said. ” I’ve been advocating: This is your money. You waited for two and a half years in the void, don’t lose it all chasing a dream”.

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