FTX has already distributed $7.1 billion: the next round could take place in early 2026

Approximately $7.1 billion has been paid out to date in payouts issued by the FTX Recovery Trust under plan administrator John J. Ray III.

FTX creditor representative Sunil Kavuri said the bankrupt exchange has now completed three rounds of payouts of about $7.1 billion.

The bankruptcy of the now defunct crypto exchange, which collapsed in November 2022, took almost three years to reach this stage.

Next distribution scheduled for January

According to its latest update on

A third tranche of $1.6 billion was paid on September 30, again across both claim categories. Kavuri estimated that total FTX assets are approximately $16-17 billion, and said the next distribution round is currently expected in January 2026, pending confirmation of the December record date.

The latest development came just days after the FTX Recovery Trust withdrew its request to limit payouts to creditors in nearly fifty foreign jurisdictions, including China, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Ukraine, following strong backlash from affected creditors. The motion was originally filed in July and aimed to pause distribution in countries with unclear or restrictive crypto regulations.

But even as refunds are steadily being returned, the political, legal and reputational battle surrounding this case has not faded as the exchange’s convicted founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, continues to try to influence the narrative from federal prison.

SBF shows up again

Earlier this month, Bankman-Fried rejoined the bankruptcy conversation to once again question the bankrupt estate’s motives and imply that FTX’s collapse was not the result of fraud, embezzlement or reckless seizure of power, but something closer to sabotage or bureaucratic obstruction.

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Even this week, SBF responded to a satirical post accusing current CEO John J. Ray III of deliberately bankrupting a “perfectly solvent” platform just to generate record commission fees and destroy real estate values, a claim he partially endorsed by saying, “This is basically what happened,” even though forensic accountants, prosecutors and bankruptcy experts have repeatedly said this story is false and misleading.

His comments caused an immediate backlash. On-chain researcher ZachXBT asked him directly to explain the alleged $40 million payment to Chinese authorities, which he claims SBF hid from the public and prosecutors. At the same time, venture capitalist Adam Cochran stated that this continued attempt to rearrange the collapse shows that SBF is unrepentant and unwilling to accept responsibility for the damage caused to millions of users.

That controversy followed an episode in which Bankman-Fried’s long-dormant Legal experts and former creditors were quick to point out that the claim was virtually identical to arguments rejected by the court as far back as 2023 and 2024, and that forensic audits have unearthed billions in missing customer funds.