Unchained

The IRS Wants $44B From Bankrupt FTX. How Is That Possible? - Ep. 491

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News emerged this week that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) placed $44 billion in claims on the FTX bankruptcy estate. Now creditors of the defunct crypto exchange are worried that the taxman is going to gobble up funds that would otherwise be used to make users partially whole. Wassielawyer, a lawyer specializing in restructuring and insolvency, joins the show to explain what’s going on, how that huge number is even possible, and why the so-called “trust argument” is not going to be the silver bullet that some FTX customers are dreaming of.


Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Show highlights:

  • whether the numbers of the IRS claim are even correct
  • how these claims may affect all customers and unsecured creditors of FTX
  • whether FTX CEO John Ray will fight the claims 
  • what the trust argument is and how it could potentially save (or not) FTX’s creditors
  • in what currency the investments made by creditors would be returned
  • why the Three Arrows Capital case differs from FTX and Mt. Gox
  • why what FTX allegedly did is similar, but different, from what Celsius or Voyager did
    • Thank you to our sponsors!
    • Crypto.com
    • Railgun DAO 
    • Stader Labs
      • Guest

      Wassielawyer, a lawyer specializing in restructuring and insolvency

      Previous appearances on Unchained: 

      • Did the Bahamian Government Direct SBF and Gary Wang to Hack
      • Why the Messy 3AC, Celsius, and Voyager Bankruptcies Will Drag on for Years 
      • Three Crypto Bankruptcies: 3AC, Celsius and Voyager. What Happens Now?
        • Links
        • CoinDesk: U.S. Internal Revenue Service Files Claims Worth $44 Billion Against FTX Bankruptcy
        • MeatTC’s Twitter thread
        • Wassie’s Twitter thread

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          UnchainedBy Laura Shin