Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has filed a request to retain his 56 million shares in the consumer trading app Robinhood. According to court documents, these shares, worth approximately $450 million at current prices, are said to be needed to pay for Bankman-Fried's criminal defense. The filing also stated that debtor requests to gain access to the funds should be denied because they "have failed to carry their heavy burden of demonstrating that they are entitled to this form of relief."
FTX, now under new management, has requested that the court freeze Bankman-Fried's Robinhood shares, while crypto lender BlockFi has claimed that the Robinhood shares were pledged to it under an agreement made in November 2022. However, the U.S. Justice Department has custody of the Robinhood shares, making these legal disputes largely theoretical.
Crypto Exchange Huobi Lays off 20% of Staff Amid Solvency Concerns
The price of TRON (TRX) fell on Friday, with the cryptocurrency dropping nearly 8% in the past 24 hours. The decline came amid tensions surrounding Huobi, a cryptocurrency exchange on which TRON founder Justin Sun sits on the advisory board. Huobi announced that it would cut its headcount by 20%, require employees to be paid in stablecoins, and reportedly close internal staff communication channels.
The value of Tron's USDD stablecoin also fell, causing the value of decentralized applications on the Tron network to drop by 2%. TRX futures saw less than $1 million in liquidations, indicating that the selling was mainly in the spot market. There were reports of $50 million transferred from addresses linked to Sun to Binance. At the same time, blockchain analytics firm Nansen showed that Huobi saw $60 million in outflows over the past 24 hours.
Huobi is not alone in its decision to cut staff. Other major cryptocurrency exchanges, such as Coinbase, crypto.com, and Kraken, have also made significant layoffs in recent months. The cryptocurrency industry has faced a challenging market environment, with the overall value of cryptocurrencies declining significantly from their all-time highs. As a result, exchanges have had to restructure and reduce costs to remain profitable.
There have been solvency concerns surrounding Huobi over the past week. There were reports of potential layoffs, which were previously denied. These concerns seem to grow as these layoffs go directly against what the exchange has previously said. However, Sun has denied that Huobi is experiencing solvency issues and has stated that the layoffs were made to streamline the company's operations. Regardless, it shows how important it is for individuals to be cautious about where they store their funds and ensure their assets' safety.