FTT, a utility token by the failed crypto exchange FTX, jumped double digits on Wednesday after a report that the company’s caretaker CEO has moved closer to restarting the company.
The cryptocurrency skyrocketed 33% over the past day, reaching a high of $1.75, after its price cratered in the wake of FTX declaring bankruptcy. FTT had reached a high of $79 in 2021, but plummeted below $1 by December 2022.
FTX CEO John J. Ray III said on Wednesday that the company “has begun the process of soliciting interested parties to the reboot of the FTX.com exchange,” according to the Wall Street Journal.
FTX would probably rebrand as part of any revival, and the company may offer claimants to FTX’s bankruptcy stakes in the new company, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. FTX’s U.S. subsidiary, a relatively small part of its business, was not mentioned in Ray’s latest comments.
Ray took over as chief executive after founder Sam Bankman-Fried stepped down shortly after the company declared bankruptcy in November. Ray first mentioned reviving the company in January when he told the Journal that he had set up a task force to explore the idea. Since then, Ray has spent increasingly more time considering it, court filings show.
The FTX CEO previously said that some customers and stakeholders believed its business was “fundamentally viable.” Blockchain company Figure, part of a group that tried to win the rights to restart the bankrupt crypto firm Celsius, said it was interested in helping restart FTX.
There is still an uphill battle for restarting the exchange, especially as regulators crack down on crypto businesses. The Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this month filed lawsuits against Coinbase and Binance for allegedly offering unregistered securities, among other charges.
