FTX Claims "Backpack Did Not Receive Court Approval for FTX EU Acquisition"

The bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX claimed that Backpack, which acquired its European Union (EU) branch, did not actually receive court approval.

According to Cointelegraph on the 9th, FTX stated in a statement, "Backpack has never received approval from the Delaware U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the acquisition of FTX EU," and added, "FTX was not involved in any of Backpack's announcements."

Specifically, "It is true that FTX creditors agreed to sell the shares of FTX EU," but emphasized, "100% of FTX EU's shares are attributed to FTX subsidiary FTX Europe AG, and the transfer of FTX EU shares has not yet occurred. A former insider was informed of the intention to transfer FTX EU to Backpack."

Furthermore, FTX pointed out that Backpack's press release contained multiple statements that could cause confusion about FTX's bankruptcy proceedings, stating, "FTX and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court were unaware of any indirect sale of FTX to Backpack until this week. Backpack has not been granted any authority to manage the repayment to FTX's creditors."

The previous day, Backpack had announced in a press release that it had successfully acquired FTX's EU branch, FTX EU. At the time, Backpack CEO Armani Ferrante said, "While many exchanges are withdrawing from the EU, we have acquired the MiFID II license through the acquisition of FTX EU," and added, "This acquisition also gives us the responsibility to distribute FTX's bankruptcy claims to FTX EU customers," and "We will do our best to quickly and safely return customers' funds to restore trust."