Since FTX CEO John J. Ray III said in June that he was looking to restart FTX.com, well-known companies such as Nasdaq, Ripple Labs, Galaxy Digital, BlackRock, Robinhood and NYDIG have expressed strong interest in FTX 2.0. Among them, BlackRock and other companies have signed confidentiality agreements, demonstrating their concern for the future of FTX.

According to the news, FTX has currently identified three candidate companies for bidding, namely Bullish, run by former New York Stock Exchange President Tom Farley, fintech startup Figure Technologies, and crypto venture capital company Proof Group. These three companies stood out in the bidding process, and the intentions of more than 70 institutions were finally narrowed down to these three. The final winner is expected to be determined in mid-December, and it is expected that the exchange will be restarted after the FTX bankruptcy is resolved next year.

Proof Group, based in Silicon Valley, is part of the Fahrenheit consortium that successfully bid for bankrupt crypto lender Celsius. Its founder, Noah Jessop, was a former executive at crypto miner Core Scientific and also worked as a product manager for the Libra Association.

Gary Gensler, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, said that if the new leadership has a clear understanding of the law, FTX's restart is possible. He emphasized operating within the scope of the law and required investors to build trust and transparency. Regarding the issue of FTX transferring customer funds to hedge fund Alameda Research when it went bankrupt, Gensler said that the New York Stock Exchange would not allow hedge funds to operate and warned the crypto industry to comply with existing securities regulations.

At the same time, there are rumors that FTX has purchased user assets at a 50% discount off the market, and will pay a 50% discount based on the price on November 11, plus a handling fee of about 5%. This news attracted the attention of the community, causing FTX's platform token FTT to rise by 80% within 24 hours.

Although the possibility of FTX restarting has increased, there are still many variables in the bankruptcy case. In addition to restarting, FTX is also considering other options, including selling the exchange as a whole or introducing partners. Investment bank Perella Weinberg Partners said that FTX will make a decision by mid-December. In addition, FTX is actively selling assets, including Grayscale and Bitwise trust assets, with a total value of approximately US$744 million. This move is intended to prepare monetization distributions for creditors and ensure that FTX can quickly sell these trust assets at the appropriate time.

Overall, there is still some uncertainty about the future development of FTX, but the confirmation of the bidding company and the positive market response provide a glimmer of hope for its restart. We will continue to pay attention to the progress of FTX and see how future development will evolve.