FTX Trading has filed a motion with the bankruptcy court in Delaware to be granted permission to sell four of its solvent and independently operating subsidiaries, which include Embed Technologies, LedgerX LLC, and FTX Europe in addition to FTX Japan.

The following extracts the relevant parts from the motion, edited for readability.

FTX Japan Business: FTX Japan Holdings is the holding company for its wholly-owned subsidiaries FTX Japan, which operates a registered cryptocurrency exchange providing residents of Japan the ability to trade crypto and crypto derivatives, and FTX Singapore, which operates a cryptocurrency exchange in Singapore under exemption while its license application is being processed, among certain other subsidiaries with limited operations.

FTX Japan is subject to the regulatory supervision of the Financial Services Agency of Japan (the “JFSA”) and is registered as a Crypto-Asset Exchange Service Provider and Type I Financial Instruments Business Operator. Previously known as Liquid Group Inc., FTX Japan Holdings was acquired in April 2022 by FTX Trading, which continues to directly own 100% of the equity interests of FTX Japan Holdings. The Debtors are soliciting bids for the disposition of the FTX Japan Business, which may involve a sale of 100% of the interests in FTX Japan Holdings held by FTX Trading or separate sales of 100% of the interests in FTX Japan or FTX Singapore held by FTX Japan Holdings.

Since the commencement of these Chapter 11 Cases, each of the Businesses has experienced regulatory pressures which merit an expeditious sale process. The Debtors and/or the Businesses have been in active conversations with a number of regulators for the Businesses, including FINRA with respect to Embed, the CFTC with respect to LedgerX’s registrations as a DCM, SEF and DCO, the JFSA with respect to FTX Japan, and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (“FINMA”) and the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (“CySEC”) with respect to FTX Europe. The licenses held by FTX Europe have been suspended along with its operations, and FTX Japan is subject to business suspension and business improvement orders. The longer operations are suspended, the greater the risk to the value of the assets and the risk of a permanent revocation of licenses.

Because each of the Businesses was acquired by the Debtors fairly recently, but before the Debtors commenced these Chapter 11 Cases, the Businesses have each operated on a generally independent basis from the Debtors’ other operations, holdings and investments. Each of the Businesses has maintained segregated customer accounts. In addition, each of the Businesses has a separate management team from the Debtors’ other businesses, Embed, LedgerX and FTX Europe each maintain separate IT systems and Embed, FTX Europe and FTX Japan Holdings each maintain separate headquarters. The relative independence of each of the Businesses’ operations from the remainder of the Debtors’ core business operations make a potential sale process for each of the Businesses relatively less complex.

Preliminary Bid Deadline: February 1, 2023

Final Bid Deadline: March 15, 2023

Auctions (provided more than one qualified bid): March 21, 2023

Sale Hearing: March 27, 2023