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01 Exclusive|FTX Wants to Return to Hong Kong Subsidiary Before the Crash and "Share" High Level with Genesis Block

2022-11-16T23:11:10.776Z


FTX, the world's second largest virtual currency exchange, filed for bankruptcy protection. "Hong Kong 01" found that FTX has been making frequent moves in Hong Kong this year, registering a subsidiary in Hong Kong, the founder of Sam Bankman-Fried nicknamed "French Fries"


FTX, the world's second largest virtual currency exchange, filed for bankruptcy protection. "Hong Kong 01" found that FTX has been making frequent moves in Hong Kong this year, registering a subsidiary in Hong Kong, and Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the founder nicknamed "Fries Brother", served as a director , more reported to live in Wan Chai serviced apartment.


The director of the Hong Kong subsidiary is Clement Ip, the co-founder and board member of Genesis Blocks, another virtual currency trading platform. The two companies are suspected of sharing offices.

However, before and after the FTX crash, the Hong Kong directors of two FTX affiliated companies registered in Hong Kong immediately resigned and jumped ship.

Genesis Block once admitted that "a small amount of funds" are deposited in FTX, and appealed to customers not to deposit virtual currency any more, but withdrawals will not be affected.


FTX crashed, Hong Kong subsidiary exposed.

(Map drawn by Hong Kong 01)

In September, the co-founder of Genesis Block, a Hong Kong subsidiary, was established as a director

In 2018, he founded the trading platform "FTX" and the hedge fund "Alameda Research" in Hong Kong. They have been operating as offshore companies and have not registered a company with the same name in Hong Kong.

In 2020, the Hong Kong government announced plans to regulate virtual currency trading platforms. FTX eventually withdrew from Hong Kong in 2021 and moved its headquarters to the Bahamas.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) reported to live in a serviced apartment unit in Wan Chai.

(Photo by Li Yinglin)

However, "Hong Kong 01" found that FTX has made frequent moves in Hong Kong this year. In September, it opened a Hong Kong registered subsidiary "FTX Hong Kong Limited". The directors include FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), and two other Hong Kong people Chen Luhui ( Chan Luk Wai) and Ye Deen (Ip Clement Joshua); SBF even reported to live in a serviced apartment unit in Wan Chai.

Among them, Chen Luhui is FTX Chief of Staff (Chief of Staff) Jen Chan, and Ye Deen is the co-founder, board member and former CEO of another virtual currency trading platform "Genesis Block" in Hong Kong.

On May 11, 2021, Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX, nicknamed "Brother Chips", was interviewed by foreign media in Hong Kong.

(Lam Yik / Bloomberg / Getty Images / Visual China)

It is reported that the CEO of the affiliated company is in Hong Kong and intends to go to Dubai

On November 12th, FTX filed for bankruptcy protection. Semafor, a news website invested by SBF, reported on November 13th that some FTX employees would move from the Bahamas to Hong Kong or other places.

At the same time, foreign media reported that SBF had failed to abscond from Dubai; Caroline Ellison, CEO of Alameda Research, an affiliated company founded by SBF, was also accused of being in Hong Kong and wishing to abscond.

According to the FTX official website, Jen Chan is the Chief of Staff.

(Photo by Lao Xianliang)

"Hong Kong 01" found that when FTX and Alameda Research were established, they had already registered in Hong Kong as Cottonwood Grove Limited, which was wholly owned by Alameda Research registered in the British Virgin Islands (BVI). The directors were SBF, Chen Luhui and Luo Yingwen (LAW Wing Man Charis), Ye Deen also joined as a director in January this year.

On October 31, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the founder of FTX, attended the Hong Kong FinTech Week via video.

(profile picture)

Binance announced the cancellation of the acquisition on the same day Hong Kong directors jumped ship

Chen Luhui is also the sole shareholder and director of the company "Salameda Limited" registered in Hong Kong.

The Financial Times reported that Salameda is an affiliate of Cottonwood Grove with a "start-up service agreement".

On November 9, the same day that Binance announced the cancellation of the acquisition of FTX, Chen Luhui, Ye Deen, and Luo Yingwen resigned as directors of Cottonwood Grove; Chen Luhui and Ye Deen also resigned as directors of FTX Hong Kong on November 14.

Affiliated company suspected of sharing office with Genesis Block

The registered addresses of FTX Hong Kong and Salameda are secretarial companies in Sheung Wan Commercial Building.

The registered address of Cottonwood Grove Limited was changed to 42nd Floor, No. 333 Lockhart Road, Wanchai on November 1. However, the scene was dark, no one was working, and there was no company name on the water sign in front of the door or in the building.

Another company owned by Ye Deen also registered the unit as its office address.

The security guard of the building said that the units on the 42nd and 43rd floors should be rented by the same company, and it is common for "the same group of people to walk up and down", and the 43rd floor is the office of Genesis Block.

A Genesis Block employee told reporters that "the 42nd floor is our new move-in", but did not disclose the date of move-in, and also said that he had never heard of Cottonwood Grove.

The staff at the Genesis Block office said that the founders of the company, Ye Deen and Hong Jiahao, were "very busy", and then changed their words to "not in the company", and said that they did not know whether the company had anything to do with FTX Hong Kong. and "uninteresting", refused to leave the reporter's contact information.

"Hong Kong 01" asked Genesis Block about the relationship between Genesis Block and FTX, shared office, capital risk and other issues, but there was no reply before the deadline.

Genesis Block, a local virtual currency platform, has a ground floor in Tsim Sha Tsui for citizens to buy and sell.

(Photo by Wang Haitu)

Genesis Block appeals to stop depositing virtual currency and believes that assets are deposited in FTX

After FTX crashed, Genesis Block co-founder and director Jiahao Hong sent a notice to customers. Due to technical problems, customers are advised not to deposit virtual currency on the platform, and withdrawals will not be affected.

According to the workplace social networking site Linkedin and startup company database Crunchbase data, some Genesis Block employees have recently updated their positions and transferred to FTX or Alameda, and some working periods overlap.

According to reports, the transaction funds used by Genesis Block used to mainly come from Alameda Research; client funds for over-the-counter transactions (OTC) were also in FTX.

When asked by Ming Pao, Hong Jiahao admitted that Genesis Block "has a small amount of assets" stored in FTX, but did not comment on whether the transaction funds came from Alameda, and also denied sharing an office with FTX. There is nothing wrong with exchanging talent while giving employees more opportunities to venture out.

The co-founder and director of Genesis Block, Hong Jiahao, admitted in an inquiry by Ming Pao that "some assets" are deposited in FTX.

(File photo/Photo by Ma Jianzhang)

FTX storm|Experts look at the chaos in the cryptocurrency market: Is FTX bankruptcy a "Lehman moment"?

FTX declares bankruptcy with more than 1 million creditors FTX incident admitted that the platform expands too fast Hong Kong's FTX explosion continues to ferment new fire technology: more than 140 million cryptocurrencies may not be withdrawn

Source: hk1

All news articles on 2022-11-16

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