Crypto Exchange FTX Reopens Bahamian Withdrawals: Nansen

Troubled crypto exchange FTX, which is based in the Bahamas, has reopened withdrawals to some users, according to on-chain data provided by Nansen.

One user was able to withdraw $2.6 million worth of ether ETH$2,969.43 while another was able to get $1.3 million of USDC out of the exchange.

A total of $6.8 million has been withdrawn in the past hour.

Most users are still unable to withdraw their funds from the FTX exchange, leading to speculation on Twitter that some types of users, or staff, were getting preferential treatment.

FTX addressed the flurry of withdrawals, stating that it has begun to facilitate withdrawals of Bahamian funds.

"Per our Bahamian HQ's regulation and regulators, we have begun to facilitate withdrawals of Bahamian funds," FTX posted on Twitter. "As such, you may have seen some withdrawals processed by FTX recently as we complied with the regulators.

"The amounts withdrawn comprise a small fraction of the assets we currently hold on hand and we are actively working on additional routes to enable withdrawals for the rest of our userbase," the company added. "We are also actively investigating what we can and should do across the world."

One of these addresses that managed to withdraw from FTX is tied to Momento, a small crypto startup in the Dominican Republic that recently interviewed the CEO of Alameda Research, the FTX sister company, on its YouTube channel. The firm sparked suspicion after deleting some tweets referencing FTX and Alameda.

"[W]e JUST CLICKED WITHDRAW," a member of the Momento staff said in the project's public Telegram channel – seeking to dispel rumors that they'd received insider treatment from the beleaguered FTX platform.

As for the deleted tweets referencing FTX, this staffer went on to write that "we deleted the tweet on Twitter to make sure that this doesn't escalate."

"We are a small (8 people) team from Dominican Republic," Cesar Terrero, a Momento engineer, told CoinDesk in a subsequent message. "[W]e have nothing to hide."

FTX halted withdrawals earlier this week as it dealt with liquidity issues in relation to Alameda. Rival exchange Binance stepped in and signed a non-binding letter of intent to acquire FTX only to walk away from the deal 24 hours later.

"We're spending the week doing everything we can to raise liquidity," FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried said in a tweet on Thursday.

FTX's website still says that it is unable to process withdrawals and advises against making deposits.

UPDATE (Nov. 10, 16:31 UTC): Adds context throughout.

UPDATE (Nov. 10, 17:01 UTC): Adds statement from Momento.

UPDATE (Nov. 10, 17:05 UTC): Adds further statement from Momento.

UPDATE (Nov. 10, 20:42 UTC): Adds statement from FTX.