FTX US tells users to close out positions as it may halt trading in days, hours after SBF said FTX US is “100% liquid”; some Tron-linked tokens can be withdrawn
eg. Bahamas account creates an NFT, the stuck user buys the NFT with their full balance. https://twitter.com/... @statelayer : lots of sizable withdraws hapenning in the last hrs (this is USDT) , people clearly abusing this bahamas loophole https://twitter.com/... @tier10k : [DB] We Are Pleased to Announce That We Have Reached an Agreement With Tron to Establish a Special Facility to Allow Holders of TRX, BTT, JST, SUN, and HT to Swap Assets From FTX 1:1 to External Wallets @statelayer : so bahamians can buy FTX dollars for 10 cents OTC and withdraw for full value? wow what a shitshow https://twitter.com/... @tree_of_alpha : NEW: Account that managed to get 6 figures out of FTX on the Solana network seems to be a Twitter account with 100 followers, including @SBF_FTX , lending credence to the theory that Sam is ensuring withdrawals for privileged people as we speak. By @0xFib https://t.co/3BJTeuJXpA @dylanleclair_ : The current state of the (unofficial) FTX bankruptcy proceedings. https://twitter.com/... @defiyst : Wtf is this? Calembo.sol receiving multiple 5-6 fig USDC withdrawals from FTX ~$460k total @lawmaster @Dogetoshi https://solscan.io/... @0xfoobar : People now withdrawing FTX balances by buying NFTs from Bahamian accounts for six- and seven-figure amounts, buyer then gets side payment and Bahamian withdraws funds Tens of millions of Tether taken so far https://twitter.com/... Steven / @dogetoshi : Annnnd it's back on again. This is very odd. Not the normal process of queueing withdrawals. You should have 5-7min of freeze them before starting up again. The on-chain withdrawals should be more fluid https://twitter.com/... Jason Choi / @mrjasonchoi : I really believed @SBF_FTX made a mistake, and wanting to fill a deepening hole, made more bad decisions. I thought it was ego and recklessness that led to disaster. But the past 12 hours re: trading/withdrawals have convinced the public that it was neither. It was malice. https://twitter.com/... Samson Mow / @excellion : “Bringing liquidity to users” is a very clever way to say “give people their money back.” 💯 https://twitter.com/... Steven / @dogetoshi : FTX appears to be processing withdrawals again https://twitter.com/... Ki Young Ju / @ki_young_ju : Isn't it illegal? 1/ FTX allows withdrawals only for TRX & TRC20. 2/ Users exchange assets to TRX to request withdrawals. 3/ TRX price goes up like 50x in FTX. 4/ Justin deposits TRX into FTX and sells them. 5/ FTX users sell TRX in other exchanges with a significant loss. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/... David Iach / @davidiach : One way to withdraw large amounts of money now is: 1. Have a Bahamian buy a very low liquidity coin on FTX 2. Pump it hard and let the Bahamian dump that coin on you. 3. Have the Bahamian withdraw the profits and give you the money minus a fee. https://twitter.com/... @hosseeb : 1/ Pouring one out for all those who were impacted by the FTX collapse. If you lost more money than you can afford, I'm so sorry. I promise it will get better. I'm exhausted. Have been thinking a lot about what happens from here, and what it means for this industry. @statelayer : i absolutely do not believe the “We have to process Bahamas withdrawal for legal reasons” thing to be legit, this reeks of insider fraud Romano / @rnr_0 : On who's fucking side are the leftover FTX employees on? What does this translate to? https://twitter.com/... Ara / @aradg11 : So the latest scam algod and others were pulling consisted of: 1. Having a falsified KYC'd Bahamas account on ftx 2. Buying locked ftx accounts for pennies on the dollar 3. Creating an nft for sale on ftx nft from the Bahamas account 4. Buying that nft on locked account ... @loopifyyy : - Bahamian accounts can withdraw their FTX balance - People are making deals with them to withdraw their funds - Internal balance transfers are blocked, so NFTs are being traded for millions instead (some 8 figs+) - NFTs are being used as a bridge to transfer funds as we speak https://twitter.com/... @lookonchain : In the past 5 hours, a total of 23.66M $USDT was withdrawn from #FTX Exchange “0x2faf”. 8 addresses withdraw more than 1M $USDT from #FTX. These smart whales took advantage of the Bahamas loophole to withdraw their #FTX through a KYC account in the Bahamas. https://twitter.com/... @macrocephalopod : People in the Bahamas getting emails right now like Dear Sir/Madam, My client is Mutassim Bilal Gadaffi, Nigerian Prince with over $10,000,000 in account at FTX. I am seeking reliable person with a Bahamian bank account who can play crucial role in aiding my client to withdra FatMan / @fatmanterra : Prepare your online presence. If FTX goes into bankruptcy, there is a good chance that full names and crypto balances of all users will be made public. It will be a privacy nightmare, and many will be blackmailed/harmed. Consider this an eventuality and take preemptive measures. Punished Nic / @nic__carter : Two tier withdrawals is insane. To those buying Bahamas passports and ferreting funds out of there, you are a moron. You think when grant thornton etc gets in there to liquidate they won't figure it out?
Context & Ripple Effects
The warning lands after [[a:984657|US regulators began examining FTX.com's customer-fund handling and ties within Sam Bankman-Fried's group]]. On the same day, the Bahamas Securities Commission froze FTX Digital Markets assets and related parties, making the distinction between platforms and jurisdictions immediately consequential.
Subsequent court documents put $3.1B of claims among FTX's 50 largest unsecured creditors, underscoring why access to particular withdrawal paths mattered as trading access narrowed.
First-order effects
- FTX US customers are pushed to close open positions before a potential trading halt, while holders of TRX, BTT, JST, SUN and HT receive a stated 1:1 route to external wallets.
- FTX users able to use Bahamian KYC accounts or the reported NFT route gain access to withdrawal channels that other account holders may not have.
Second-order effects
- The Tron facility segments FTX customers by token holdings and withdrawal eligibility, concentrating demand in the assets that can be swapped out rather than treating all balances alike.
- The Bahamian asset freeze and reported account-based withdrawal routes put FTX's jurisdictional controls under sharper scrutiny alongside the existing SEC and CFTC investigation.
Third-order effects
- The episode points to regulated liquidity fragmentation: exchange balances can carry materially different exit rights depending on legal entity, account status and token-specific arrangements.
- Later reports of weak recordkeeping and key-storage controls suggest that platform claims of liquidity require verifiable custody and controls, not executive assurances alone.
The trend: Crypto exchange stress is exposing how token-specific facilities and jurisdictional account rules can fragment what users assume is a single pool of liquid balances.