FTX clears the dispute and sells its European arm for $33 million

Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX has cleared a dispute over its European divisions and returned the company to its former owners.

According to a Feb. 24 Reuters report, FTX has agreed to sell FTX Europe back to its founders for $32.7 million, suggesting it is having trouble finding other buyers. Swiss startup Digital Assets AG (DAAG), later FTX Europe, was acquired in a deal worth $323 million in 2021.

Before accepting the sale, FTX attempted to recoup the funds spent on the purchase. The exchange filed a lawsuit alleging that the purchase was made with customer funds and argued that the purchase price was a “huge overpayment.”

The startup's founders, Patrick Gruh and Robin Matzke, denied the allegations and countersued, demanding $256.6 million from FTX. According to Reuters, the dispute was finally resolved in 2015. Released on February 21.

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FTX Europe was part of FTX's Chapter 11 filing in the United States in November 2022. A number of crypto exchanges have sought to gain a foothold in Europe after bankruptcy, hoping to grab FTX's regional market share.

American crypto exchange Coinbase, for example, attempted to acquire FTX Europe in November 2022 – following the dramatic collapse of its parent company – and in September 2023, FTX Europe.

The company has only been operating in the region for eight months. In the year In March 2023, FTX Europe launched a website for European customers to request withdrawals for the first time since declaring bankruptcy.

FTX is in the final stages of bankruptcy proceedings, planning to repay billions of dollars in full to its customers. On February 22, the company was granted permission to offload more than $1 billion in artificial intelligence company Anthropic's stock in an effort to recoup money from creditors.

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