Bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX received court permission to remove customer names from all files in its bankruptcy case on Friday.
FTX's new administration convinced the judge that releasing the names would put people at risk of fraud and identity theft.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey has ruled that FTX can permanently delete the names of individual customers from its bankruptcy filings, after hearing statements that customers' names would be at risk even if other identifying information such as email addresses were kept confidential.
“Customers are the most important issue in this case, we want to make sure they are protected and not the victims of any fraudulent activity,” Dorsey said.
In January, Dorsey allowed FTX to keep the names of 9 million individual customers private for three months.
Dorsey on Friday authorized FTX to temporarily remove the names of companies and institutional investors from its client lists, and said FTX must file a new request within 90 days. Dorsey said that these clients do not face the same risks as individuals, but that their names could be valuable property if FTX decides to sell its crypto exchange business as a whole or to sell its client list separately.
Dorsey also addressed a long-standing dispute between FTX's US bankruptcy team and the liquidators overseeing the liquidation of FTX's Bahamian subsidiary, FTX Digital Markets, asking the two parties to find a mediator and inconsistent in separate court proceedings in the US and Bahamas. ordered them to try to avoid decisions.
Dorsey refused Bahamian liquidators' request to sue in Bahamian courts over assets held by US debtors.
*Not investment advice.
