In 2021, FTX.US acquired the futures and options exchange to enhance its spot trading services. Three further FTX assets are still up for sale.
In order to sell its futures and options exchange and clearinghouse LedgerX, FTX announced that it had signed a purchase agreement with an affiliate of Miami International Holdings.
The transaction’s overall proceeds, according to a statement from FTX, are expected to be around $50 million. The United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware still needs to approve the agreement. The deal will be subject to a hearing on May 4.
According to FTX, an agreement has been agreed with Akron, Ohio-based M7 Holding, a family-run private equity investment company. The company is a subsidiary of Miami International Holdings, which also runs the Minneapolis Grain Exchange and the Bermuda Stock Exchange, among other exchanges both locally and internationally.
MIAX announces that it entered into a purchase agreement to acquire LedgerX.
Mark Wetjen, former CFTC Commissioner and later head of policy + regulatory strategy at FTX US, has been sitting on the board of LedgerX since 2015.
Wetjen was CEO of MIAX Futures for almost 2 years. pic.twitter.com/zFZtqSou8I
— A Wave Unto Itself 🌊 (@waveninja1) April 25, 2023
LedgerX and other FTX assets were sold in January after the bankruptcy court overcame objections from the U.S. trustee and an ad hoc committee of 18 non-U.S. clients. Embed, LedgerX, FTX Japan, and FTX Europe were the assets that were going up for auction. 117 parties had at the time shown interest in the assets.
The transaction was described by John Ray III, the CEO and chief restructuring officer of FTX, as “an example of our continuing efforts to monetize assets to deliver recoveries to stakeholders.”
In August 2021, FTX.US acquired LedgerX, allowing it to increase the range of its spot trading offerings. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) oversees LedgerX. Rostin Behnam, the head of the CFTC, said in December:
“At [LedgerX], the limits of our authority were reached. The other FTX organizations were unable to break into LedgerX and potentially steal consumer money for the same reasons that we were prevented from moving past the regulated entity, which is certainly the priority as a regulator.”
In November, FTX declared bankruptcy.