Important Crypto News From This Weekend That You Might Have Missed

This weekend, FTX revealed its plan to begin paying major creditors in 2025, with $11.4 billion in assets. Meanwhile, former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes, along with his co-founders, received pardons from President Trump after a lengthy legal battle over regulatory violations.

Crypto news that flew under the radar.

FTX to Begin Paying Major Creditors in May 2025

FTX, the once-prominent cryptocurrency exchange led by Sam Bankman-Fried, has reached a crucial moment in its ongoing bankruptcy saga. Nearly two and a half years after its dramatic collapse, FTX has announced it will begin paying its major creditors on May 30, 2025.

The company has now accumulated $11.4 billion in cash to distribute to creditors with claims exceeding $50,000. Smaller creditors, with claims under $50,000, have already begun receiving payments, and most were compensated within two months of the repayment plan’s initiation.

FTX’s collapse followed shocking revelations that Bankman-Fried had misused customer funds to support his hedge fund, Alameda Research. It filed for bankruptcy in November 2022. Despite these challenges, the now-defunct crypto exchange’s recovery efforts have been led by John J. Ray III, who previously oversaw the dissolution of Enron.

Under his leadership, FTX’s estate managed to reclaim significant assets, including stakes in tech firms and cryptocurrency holdings, exceeding the company’s original $11.2 billion liabilities. As a result, creditors are set to receive payouts amounting to 118-119% of their original claims.

However, the repayment is based on the value of cryptocurrencies as of November 2022, which has left many creditors frustrated, as Bitcoin and other assets have soared in value since then.

Arthur Hayes and BitMEX Leaders Pardoned by Trump

In yet another significant development, Arthur Hayes, the former CEO of BitMEX, has been granted a pardon by US President Donald Trump, alongside his co-founders Samuel Reed and Benjamin Delo, as well as senior employee Greg Dwyer and the exchange’s operating entity, HDR Global Trading.

This decision comes after a turbulent legal battle, which began in 2020 when the US Department of Justice (DOJ) charged BitMEX and its leadership with violations of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). The charges centered around the platform’s failure to implement basic customer identification procedures, which allowed users to trade anonymously without meeting know-your-customer (KYC) requirements.

The individuals involved all pleaded guilty and received probationary sentences, while the exchange itself settled charges by admitting to BSA violations last year.

In addition to the DOJ case, BitMEX also faced a significant penalty from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which fined the exchange $100 million for breaching the Commodity Exchange Act in 2021.

This latest pardon follows Trump’s earlier decision to grant clemency to Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht. Meanwhile, Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of FTX, has made repeated efforts to secure a pardon, even attempting to influence Trump’s administration by participating in an unauthorized jailhouse interview.