Crypto exchange FTX resumes paying employees and contractors who were unpaid since its bankruptcy filing

Crypto exchange FTX has announced that it will resume paying salaries and benefits to its employees as well as payments to contractors. The announcement was made by the new FTX CEO John Ray III on November 28 as the insolvency professional started working in helping the bankrupt firm navigate through the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, according to Cointelegraph.

“FTX Trading Ltd. (d.b.a. FTX.com), and approximately 101 additional affiliated companies (together, the ‘FTX Debtors’), today announced that most FTX subsidiaries around the world are resuming ordinary course payment of salary and benefits to employees worldwide and ordinary course payments to certain non-U.S. contractors and service providers,” the company said in a press release.

The move was made after securing the approval of the court handling the company’s case. “With the Court's approval of our First Day motions and the work being done on global cash management, I am pleased that the FTX group is resuming ordinary course cash payments of salaries and benefits to our remaining employees around the world,” FTX CEO John J. Ray III said.

Aside from its employees, the company will also be making payments to selected service providers and vendors based outside the U.S. “FTX also is making cash payments to selected non-U.S. vendors and service providers where necessary to preserve business operations, subject to the limits approved by the Bankruptcy Court,” the FTX executive added. “We recognize the hardship imposed by the temporary interruption in these payments and thank all of our valuable employees and partners for their support.”

FTX debtors submitted a motion to the Delaware bankruptcy court on November 19 to pay prepetition benefits and compensation to workers and contractors, but excluded payments to Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang, Nishad Singh, and former FTX CEO and founder Sam Bankman-Fried. With the company’s announcement, FTX's remaining staff and contractors will soon receive nearly three weeks’ worth of salary, which was probably stopped after the company declared bankruptcy on November 11.

However, the announcement specifically stated that the decision won’t include FTX’s contractors and employees in Australia. “The relief also does not apply to employees or contractors of FTX Australia Pty Limited and FTX Express Pty Ltd (collectively, "FTX Australia"), which is the subject of a separate proceeding in Australia and not included in, or protected by, the chapter 11 cases in the United States,” the company explained.

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