Cryptocurrency exchange FTX is seeking to dismiss claims from investors regarding “Sam Coins” in an ongoing bankruptcy case. FTX argued in court that these tokens, associated with FTX founder Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried, should be considered worthless. However, the investors claimed that the tokens were worth hundreds of millions of dollars and presented their calculations in court.
FTX’s valuation expert stated that it would take decades to liquidate the native tokens of travel platform Maps (MAPS), DeFi brokerage Oxygen (OXY), decentralized exchange Serum (SERUM), and hybrid blockchain Boba (BOBA), as the firm held over 95% of the OXY and MAP tokens. On the other hand, the creditor attorney argued that FTX had hired experts to provide unfairly low estimates.
FTX asserted that claims associated with MAPS and OXY tokens, valued at over $600 million, should be considered worthless. Claims associated with SERUM tokens, valued at $509 million, should be discounted by approximately 58%. However, the FTX customers disagreed and claimed that the four digital assets, known as the Sam Coins, were worth over $1.1 billion in total.
The judge acknowledged the difficulty in accurately determining the value of cryptocurrencies and stated that digital assets have “no inherent value” and rely on sentiment and trading. He listened to arguments from both sides and stated that he would consider the matter before ruling on the value of these disputed crypto assets.
FTX’s MAPS token, which is native to the Solana-based travel platform Maps.me, has experienced a 98% drop from its all-time high in May 2021, currently trading at $0.03. The OXY token, associated with the Oxygen DeFi brokerage, has also seen a 98% drop, trading at $0.08. The SERUM token, linked to the FTX-backed decentralized exchange, has fallen 99.5% from its peak and is currently valued at $0.06.
Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX, was recently found guilty of seven fraud charges brought against him by the U.S. government. His lawyers argue that the proposed 50-year sentence is unfair and portrays him as a “depraved super-villain.”