FTX says Backpack's acquisition of EU subsidiary has not yet received court approval

PANews reported on January 9 that according to Cointelegraph, the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX stated that the transaction in which its European branch FTX EU was acquired by the crypto exchange Backpack has not yet been approved by the bankruptcy court, and Backpack has not been authorized to distribute funds to FTX creditors.

Backpack announced on Jan. 7 that it had acquired FTX EU and said it would assume responsibility for repaying debts to EU customers as part of a court-approved bankruptcy proceeding. Backpack founder Armani Ferrante said his exchange would not conduct any transactions in the EU until it was able to repay FTX creditors, adding that this could be ready as early as February.

However, in a statement on January 8, FTX said that Backpack's "claimed" acquisition of FTX EU has not yet occurred and has not been approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, adding that all statements issued by Backpack were made without FTX's knowledge. FTX said that the FTX debtors had previously agreed to sell FTX EU to some "former insiders" of FTX Europe under a settlement agreement supervised by the bankruptcy court, but only said that it was informed that these former insiders had agreed to indirectly transfer FTX EU to Backpack. FTX also pointed out that Backpack was not granted the authority to manage creditor repayment matters.