Proof Group, an investment firm based in Silicon Valley and a member of the Fahrenheit consortium that successfully acquired the bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Celsius, is now considering relaunching FTX.
FTX, once a prominent crypto exchange, faced a major collapse nearly a year ago, causing significant repercussions within the cryptocurrency industry. Since then, multiple bids have been submitted to potentially restart the insolvent exchange. Perella Weinberg Partners, an investment bank involved in the process, has now narrowed down the potential restart options to a shortlist of three.
These options include relaunching the exchange with the involvement of Proof Group, selling the entire exchange along with its valuable customer base of 9 million users, or seeking a strategic partnership. A final decision is expected to be made by mid-December, as stated by Kevin Cofsky, a partner at Perella Weinberg, in the past month.
Proof Group is known for its venture capital investments in various cryptocurrency projects, such as Aptos, Lightspark, and Sui.
Other companies that have expressed interest in reviving FTX reportedly include Figure, a fintech and digital assets firm that also bid for Celsius as part of the unsuccessful NovaWulf group, and Tribe Capital, a venture capital investor. However, the complexities surrounding the FTX bankruptcy, including addressing claims, token lockups, and compliance issues, make the restart process challenging. Bankruptcy expert Thomas Braziel, founder of 117 Partners, pointed to the difficulties encountered in reviving bankrupt crypto lender Voyager as a case study illustrating the complexities involved in such reboot plans.
