--- title: "Attempt to Reboot FTX Fails Miserably" description: "The attempts to resuscitate FTX are dead on arrival, and soon, it will repay the people its convicted felon co-founder bilked out of money." date: "2024-02-01" modified: "2024-02-01" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/ftx-reboot-fails" categories: - "Blockchain" - "Future Society" tags: - "bankruptcy" - "ftx" - "sbf" - "the digest" --- # Attempt to Reboot FTX Fails Miserably ![The attempts to resuscitate FTX are dead on arrival, and soon, it will repay the people its convicted felon co-founder bilked out of money.]() *\Image: Michael M. Santiago via Getty / Futurism\* ## AWOL The attempt to resuscitate FTX is dead on arrival, and soon the defunct exchange will repay the people its convicted felon co-founder bilked out of money. As [*The Guardian* reports,]() company attorney Andrew Dietderich admitted that there will be no FTX comeback because, basically, nobody was dumb enough to try and rebuild it. From the time one-time head Sam Bankman-Fried was first arrested back in November 2022 until now, there have been [repeated]() and [vague]() [reports]() about a [potential]() bounce-back for the shuttered brand. Nevertheless, all those half-baked announcements and the attempts behind the scenes failed to come to fruition because, as Dietderich explained, the infamous co-founder never built a solid enough foundation for it to run properly, ultimately demonstrating that the "costs and risks of creating a viable exchange from what Mr Bankman-Fried left in a dumpster were simply too high." "This hopefully puts to bed the alternative narrative that this business was just fine all along," Dietderich said, [per *The Verge*'s transcription,]() during the bankruptcy court hearing in Delaware earlier this week. "It was an irresponsible sham, created by a convicted felon." ## Repaid In Full Now, FTX's gameplan is all about liquidating its assets and repaying its defrauded investors — though as *Reuters* reported last month, [some are less than pleased]() with the plan to reimburse them based on crypto prices from November 2022, when the exchange went belly-up and in doing so tanked the market. It's not hard to see why, because as the report explains, Bitcoin was trading at $16,000 per coin in November 2022, and is today hovering around $43,000. From the sound of things, however, they may have to take what they can get. "I would like the court and stakeholders to understand this not as a guarantee, but as an objective," Dietderich said. "There is still a great amount of work and risk between us and that result, but we believe the objective is within reach, and we have a strategy to achieve it." Last spring, [reports indicated]() that FTX was able to recover $7.3 billion in assets with which to repay its customers, and as *The Guardian* notes, government regulators agreed not to try to collect on that [missing $9 billion]() in claims until after they're made whole. It seems that FTX's long-suffering attorney may be getting ready to finally close the book on the exchange — and as [SBF awaits sentencing]() and the [crypto industry bounces back](), at least some closure could be a good thing. **More on crypto:** [*Pastor Accused of Crypto Scam Says God Told Him to Do It*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()