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Liquid Global, Crypto Exchange Owned by FTX, Halts Withdrawals

The Japanese exchange was acquired by FTX earlier this year.

Updated May 9, 2023, 4:02 a.m. Published Nov 15, 2022, 1:11 p.m.

Japanese exchange Liquid Global has locked customer withdrawals. (Creative Commons)

Liquid Global, which was bought by crypto exchange FTX earlier this year, said it is halting all withdrawals after FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S.

In a tweet on Monday evening U.S. time, the company said that customers wouldn't be able to take out either fiat or cryptocurrency and that it will provide further updates "when available."

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FTX, which had extended Liquid a $120 million loan in the wake of a $90 million hack in 2021 before agreeing to buy the exchange outright, didn't disclose how it much paid to purchase Liquid.

Due to the Chapter 11 filing by FTX Trading International the ultimate beneficial owner of Quoine Pte. Ltd, Liquid Exchage (Quoine Pte.) is halting all withdrawals - both fiat and crypto currency.

More information will be provided as it becomes available
— Liquid Global Official (@Liquid_Global) November 15, 2022

Liquid is operated by Quoine, which is another entity that was named in FTX's bankruptcy filing last week. Quoine has applied to register with the Monetary Authority of Singapore, but the regulator said this week it will take the FTX developments into account.

Liquid's native token, QASH, is down by over 25% following the exchange's decision to halt withdrawals.

CORRECTION (Nov. 15, 13:19 UTC): Corrects to say FTX bought the exchange; an earlier version said it had bailed it out following the 2021 hack.

UPDATE (Nov. 15, 14:24 UTC): Adds context throughout.

FTX Japan Crypto Exchange

Oliver Knight

Oliver Knight is the co-leader of CoinDesk data tokens and data team. Before joining CoinDesk in 2022 Oliver spent three years as the chief reporter at Coin Rivet. He first started investing in bitcoin in 2013 and spent a period of his career working at a market making firm in the UK. He does not currently have any crypto holdings.

Sheldon Reback

Sheldon Reback is CoinDesk editorial's Regional Head of Europe. Before joining the company, he spent 26 years as an editor at Bloomberg News, where he worked on beats as diverse as stock markets and the retail industry as well as covering the dot-com bubble of 2000-2002. He managed the Bloomberg Terminal's main news page and also worked on a global project to produce short, chart-based stories across the newsroom. He previously worked as a journalist for a number of technology magazines in Hong Kong. Sheldon has a degree in industrial chemistry and an MBA. He owns ether and bitcoin below CoinDesk's notifiable limit.