- FT-affiliated Alameda Research has sued asset management company Grayscale Investments for improperly holding funds in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC).
- FTX say that if Grayscale had reduced its commissions and allowed clients to finally take the money that was withheld, the company’s shares would be worth “almost 90% more than now.”
- Grayscale was also singled out by the defunct investment firm Three Arrows Capital (3AC).
One of the great and sad events of 2022 was the bankruptcy of FTX. The cryptocurrency exchange, with many American clients, crashed in a matter of days, taking investors’ funds. Alameda Researcha company associated with the exchange, also filed for bankruptcy, however, it has now gone from defendant to plaintiff.
Alameda Research, owned by Sam Bankman-Fried, who is under investigation and could face a long prison sentence, appeared in court and accused asset management company Grayscale Investments of improperly holding funds in Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), the company’s own product. These, as they assured, are part of their clients, who are waiting for the returns.
FTX points to Grayscale
The new CEO of FTX, John J. Ray III, who is taking charge of this very difficult moment, took aim against Grayscale. It is estimated that the former FTX authorities made “risky bets with clients’ money through Alameda”, as described by the medium Decrypt. In this way, many of the investor funds that today do not have answers could find them.
“FTX clients and creditors will benefit from additional recoveries, along with other Grayscale Trust investors who are being hurt by Grayscale’s actions.“, highlighted Ray. While he continued: “Grayscale has extracted more than $1.3 billion in exorbitant management fees in violation of Trust agreements”
From FTX say that if Grayscale had reduced its commissions and allowed clients to finally take their money (which was withheld), the company’s shares would be worth “almost 90% more than now.”
Grayscale fights back
From Grayscale they did not take long to respond and assured that their company has not done anything wrong. The defense was as follows:
“Grayscale has been transparent in our efforts to obtain regulatory approval to convert GBTC into an ETF [fondo cotizado en bolsa]a result that is undoubtedly the best long-term product structure for Grayscale investors”.
Previously, this asset manager had been singled out by Three Arrows Capital (3AC), the cryptocurrency hedge fund that went from being worth $10 billion to $0. For their part, they pointed out that the high exposure to the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) was one of the triggers for its sad end. They never managed to recover the investment and this, added to the disappearance of Terra and the loss of parity of some staked tokens (Ethereum, for example), turned out to be a fatal combo.
Coinbase also received a lawsuit
While Alameda Research takes a hard shot at Grayscale, Coinbase received a lawsuit from a client over the hack. He claims to have lost $96,000, “90% of his life savings.” The plaintiff, Jared Ferguson, claims that his phone was compromised.
“Ferguson lost service on May 9 and was told by T-Mobile support to buy a new SIM card. After restoring service on his iPhone, he realized that all the money had been taken from his Coinbase wallet.”, he highlighted CoinDesk.
Coinbase ensures that it has no responsibility in the case:
“Customers are responsible for any activity that occurs when those devices or passwords are compromised. Please note that you are solely responsible for the security of your email, your passwords, your 2FA codes and your devices.”.
After a whole 2022 dyed red, apparently 2023 will be the year of lawsuits…
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