Court Supports FTX's Request to Remove Customer Names from Bankruptcy Filings
Bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX has secured court permission to remove the names of its customers from all filings in its bankruptcy case.
The US Bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey in Wilmington, Delaware, has concluded that publishing the names of individual customers could put them at risk of scams and identity theft, Reuters reported Friday.
The judge had already allowed FTX to keep the names of 9 million individual customers secret for the first three months of 2022.
The court has now granted permission to completely redact the names of all customers from its bankruptcy filings permanently.
Dorsey made it clear that FTX should prioritize customer safety and make sure they don't fall victim to scams.
"It is the customers who are the most important issue in this case," he said. "We want to make sure that they are protected and they don't fall victim to any types of scams."
The court also granted permission to FTX to remove names of companies and institutional investors from its customer lists temporarily. The exchange will have to make another request in 90 days if it wants to keep them redacted.
While the judge noted corporates and institutional investors of FTX do not face identity theft, their names could be valuable property if the company decided to sell its customer list as a whole or separately in the future.
It is worth noting that the FTX bankruptcy case has been complicated by a long-standing dispute between the exchange's US bankruptcy team and liquidators overseeing the shut-down of FTX's Bahamian affiliate, FTX Digital Markets.
On Friday, the judge asked both sides to seek mediation and cooperate to prevent inconsistent rulings in separate court proceedings in the US and the Bahamas.
Dorsey rejected the request
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