FTX Was Solvent and Creditors Received 143% In Repayments: SBF Says

• SBF claims FTX was solvent and highlights customer repayments of 119–143%, challenging the collapse narrative.
• The dispute centers on the $8B hole, bankruptcy mechanics, and how recovery data is interpreted.
• The SBF attorneys are preparing for a new trial after a Presidential pardon failed to materialize.

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) claims that FTX was never insolvent. SBF shared an X post on Friday, February 20, stating that the FTX exchange is now repaying customers at rates of 119% to 143%. 

SBF is fighting for his freedom after he was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment in a federal prison. Notably, SBF has failed to secure a pardon from President Donald Trump akin to Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) and Ross Ulbricht 

“FTX could afford to repay in kind, until lawyers paid themselves $1b to quickly dismantle the estate, and slowly repay customers,” SBF stated.

SBF Downplays Reported $8B Hole of FTX 

According to SBF, the widely reported $8 billion hole was misleading, and that FTX had enough assets to cover liabilities if it had not been pushed into bankruptcy. Supporting this claim, he points to recovery figures and modeling suggesting the exchange’s asset base would have grown significantly post-2022.

The “$8 billion hole” narrative solidified immediately after FTX halted withdrawals and filed for Chapter 11 in November 2022. Prosecutors, debtors, and media coverage converged on the idea that customer funds had effectively vanished.

Source: X

However, bankruptcy mechanics locked customer claims at near-cycle-low crypto prices, converting BTC, ETH, and SOL balances into fixed USD claims. As markets recovered sharply in 2023–2025, asset appreciation accrued to the estate not to customers creating the appearance of excess value even if a substantial shortfall existed at collapse.

Related: SBF Challenges FTX Bankruptcy, Claims The Exchange Was Always Solvent

What’s Next? A Pardon?

SBF’s recent public statements and attempts to reframe the FTX story have fueled speculation about what comes next. Moreover, the crypto community has questioned whether SBF’s claims will influence future court appeals, or shift public perception to obtain a presidential pardon.

For instance, Vijay Boyapati championed no pardon for SBF. Furthermore, the fall of FTX played a huge role in the lower reported retail crypto adoption in the past two years.

FTX’s bankruptcy shows that over $15 billion was recovered through token holdings, equity stakes, and clawbacks, while legal and advisory costs of nearly $1 billion reduced net payouts. Repayments were made in cash, reflecting bankruptcy rules prioritizing equal dollar treatment over original crypto balances.

Even with 119–143% repayment, some FTX customers have not yet received their payout, especially those caught up in geopolitical trade war issues. Most importantly, the FTX customers were only repaid their deposits in the U.S. dollar, thus casting them out of the recorded altcoin gains led by Solana (SBF).

As such, the pardon bid for SBF under President Trump has failed to gain traction among the lobbyists. Nonetheless, SBF has been preparing for an appeal, whereby his mother Barbara Fried, recently filed a motion for a new trial. According to the new motion, the SBF attorneys have new evidence in the case that would justify a reset.

Related: FTX Victims Reach Settlement With Law Firm Fenwick & West in 2026