Cryptocurrency exchange FTX is looking to declare its creditors’ “Sam Coins” effectively worthless amidst the company’s lengthy bankruptcy proceedings, court documents from a Tuesday hearing in Delaware show.
Lawyers for FTX Trading LTD. hired NYU Professor of Finance Sabrina Howell to conduct a valuation analysis on a number of “Sam Coins,” including Serum, Maps, and Oxygen.
According to Howell’s research, Serum’s $509 million in claims should be reduced by nearly 60%, while both Oxygen and Maps should be devalued to zero given that the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange held nearly 95% of the tokens.
“The customers attribute values to claims on digital assets assuming a market that never has and never will exist,” FTX attorney Brian D. Glueckenstein of Sullivan and Cromwell said.
Lawyers for FTX creditors notably pushed back against the method of Howell’s analysis, with Maps Vault Attorney Jefferey Torosian calling her assessment of the digital assets’ value “illogical.”