The collapse of FTX, once one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has left an estimated 1 million creditors facing losses totaling billions of dollars.
Real eState
FTX spent $300mln on Bahamas real estate, run as ‘personal fiefdom’ -attorneys
An attorney said the $300 million spent on real estate was largely homes and vacation properties for senior staff. The company intends to sell off healthy business units, an attorney said.
Reuters earlier reported that Bankman-Fried’s FTX, his parents and senior executives of the failed cryptocurrency exchange bought at least 19 properties worth nearly $121 million in the Bahamas over the past two years, official property records show.
At the hearing, an attorney for FTX also said that the company continues to suffer cyberattacks as bankruptcy begins, and that “substantial” assets are missing.
It includes around $400 million at accounts related to Alameda Research, the crypto trading firm owned by FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, and $172 million at FTX’s Japan arm.
FTX, which said on Saturday it has launched a strategic review of its global assets and is preparing for the sale or reorganization of some businesses, had previously said that it owes its 50 biggest creditors nearly $3.1 billion.
Reuters has reported Bankman-Fried secretly used $10 billion in customer funds to prop up his trading business, and that at least $1 billion of those deposits had vanished.
FTX has asked Judge John Dorsey to sign off on initial steps in its bankruptcy, including paying employees and critical vendors, which will allow it to continue operating during Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.
The firm had also asked Dorsey to take over a separate Chapter 15 case filed last week in New York on behalf of FTX’s Bahamas unit by liquidators appointed by a Bahamas court. Such proceedings are used by foreign companies to seek U.S. courts’ cooperation in cross-border bankruptcy cases.
Lawyers representing the Bahamian liquidators, who have previously questioned the validity of the U.S. Chapter 11 proceedings and clashed with the team leading it over which case should take precedence, agreed to that demand before Tuesday’s hearing.
Bankman-Fried, FTX and the Bahamas liquidators did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
FTX is also seeking to indemnify unidentified individuals for actions they took and continue to take in connection with assets that represent a significant share of the company’s estate, according to a Tuesday court filing.
Sealed indemnification requests are unusual at the start of a bankruptcy case. FTX said that it was communicating with U.S. regulators and bankruptcy court officials, but did not mention Bahamas regulators.
FTX’s fall from grace has sent shivers through the crypto world, driving bitcoin to its lowest level in around two years and triggering fears of contagion among other firms already reeling from the collapse in the crypto market this year.
Major U.S. crypto lender Genesis said on Monday it was trying to avert bankruptcy, days after FTX’s collapse forced it to suspend customer redemptions.
“Our goal is to resolve the current situation consensually without the need for any bankruptcy filing,” a Genesis spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Reuters, adding that it continues to have conversations with creditors.
A Bloomberg News report, citing sources, had said Genesis was struggling to raise fresh cash for its lending unit, and warning investors it may need to file for bankruptcy if it does not find funding.
Apollo did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the WSJ report, while Binance declined to comment.
Genesis Global Capital suspended customer redemptions in its lending business last week, citing the sudden failure of FTX.
Crypto exchange Gemini, which runs a crypto lending product in partnership with Genesis, tweeted on Monday that it was continuing to work with the company to enable its users to redeem funds from its yield-generating “Earn” program.
Since the implosion of FTX, some crypto players are taking to decentralized exchanges known as “DEXs” where investors trade peer-to-peer on the blockchain.
Overall daily trading volumes on DEXs leapt to their highest level since May on Nov. 10, as FTX imploded, according to data from market tracker DeFi Llama, but have since pared gains.
(Reporting by Dietrich Knauth in New York and Tom Wilson in London; additional reporting by Manya Saini, Rishabh Jaiswal, Juby Babu and Lavanya Sushil Ahire in Bengaluru; Editing by Megan Davies, Alexander Smith and Nick Zieminski)
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TORONTO – The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board says home sales in October surged as buyers continued moving off the sidelines amid lower interest rates.
The board said 6,658 homes changed hands last month in the Greater Toronto Area, up 44.4 per cent compared with 4,611 in the same month last year. Sales were up 14 per cent from September on a seasonally adjusted basis.
The average selling price was up 1.1 per cent compared with a year earlier at $1,135,215. The composite benchmark price, meant to represent the typical home, was down 3.3 per cent year-over-year.
“While we are still early in the Bank of Canada’s rate cutting cycle, it definitely does appear that an increasing number of buyers moved off the sidelines and back into the marketplace in October,” said TRREB president Jennifer Pearce in a news release.
“The positive affordability picture brought about by lower borrowing costs and relatively flat home prices prompted this improvement in market activity.”
The Bank of Canada has slashed its key interest rate four times since June, including a half-percentage point cut on Oct. 23. The rate now stands at 3.75 per cent, down from the high of five per cent that deterred many would-be buyers from the housing market.
New listings last month totalled 15,328, up 4.3 per cent from a year earlier.
In the City of Toronto, there were 2,509 sales last month, a 37.6 per cent jump from October 2023. Throughout the rest of the GTA, home sales rose 48.9 per cent to 4,149.
The sales uptick is encouraging, said Cameron Forbes, general manager and broker for Re/Max Realtron Realty Inc., who added the figures for October were stronger than he anticipated.
“I thought they’d be up for sure, but not necessarily that much,” said Forbes.
“Obviously, the 50 basis points was certainly a great move in the right direction. I just thought it would take more to get things going.”
He said it shows confidence in the market is returning faster than expected, especially among existing homeowners looking for a new property.
“The average consumer who’s employed and may have been able to get some increases in their wages over the last little bit to make up some ground with inflation, I think they’re confident, so they’re looking in the market.
“The conditions are nice because you’ve got a little more time, you’ve got more choice, you’ve got fewer other buyers to compete against.”
All property types saw more sales in October compared with a year ago throughout the GTA.
Townhouses led the surge with 56.8 per cent more sales, followed by detached homes at 46.6 per cent and semi-detached homes at 44 per cent. There were 33.4 per cent more condos that changed hands year-over-year.
“Market conditions did tighten in October, but there is still a lot of inventory and therefore choice for homebuyers,” said TRREB chief market analyst Jason Mercer.
“This choice will keep home price growth moderate over the next few months. However, as inventory is absorbed and home construction continues to lag population growth, selling price growth will accelerate, likely as we move through the spring of 2025.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
HALIFAX – A village of tiny homes is set to open next month in a Halifax suburb, the latest project by the provincial government to address homelessness.
Located in Lower Sackville, N.S., the tiny home community will house up to 34 people when the first 26 units open Nov. 4.
Another 35 people are scheduled to move in when construction on another 29 units should be complete in December, under a partnership between the province, the Halifax Regional Municipality, United Way Halifax, The Shaw Group and Dexter Construction.
The province invested $9.4 million to build the village and will contribute $935,000 annually for operating costs.
Residents have been chosen from a list of people experiencing homelessness maintained by the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia.
They will pay rent that is tied to their income for a unit that is fully furnished with a private bathroom, shower and a kitchen equipped with a cooktop, small fridge and microwave.
The Atlantic Community Shelters Society will also provide support to residents, ranging from counselling and mental health supports to employment and educational services.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Housing affordability is a key issue in the provincial election campaign in British Columbia, particularly in major centres.
Here are some statistics about housing in B.C. from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s 2024 Rental Market Report, issued in January, and the B.C. Real Estate Association’s August 2024 report.
Average residential home price in B.C.: $938,500
Average price in greater Vancouver (2024 year to date): $1,304,438
Average price in greater Victoria (2024 year to date): $979,103
Average price in the Okanagan (2024 year to date): $748,015
Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Vancouver: $2,181
Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Victoria: $1,839
Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Canada: $1,359
Rental vacancy rate in Vancouver: 0.9 per cent
How much more do new renters in Vancouver pay compared with renters who have occupied their home for at least a year: 27 per cent
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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