An FTX creditor said the firm's repayment plan would only return around 25% of the failed exchange users crypto assets.
Bankrupt FTX’s native FTT token has spiked by around 50% during the past day amid false rumors of upcoming credit repayments.
Data from CryptoSlate shows that FTT peaked at $2.75—its highest value since March—but has slightly retraced to $2.14 as of press time.
This represents a 56% increase over the past week and a 71% rise in the last month. Additionally, trading volume for FTT skyrocketed by over 1,600%, surpassing $360 million—more than half of this activity took place on Binance.
FTT’s spike in value is surprising, considering the token’s limited utility beyond speculation. However, market observers have attributed the surge to developments in FTX’s ongoing bankruptcy proceedings.
False repayment rumors
Recent rumors circulating on social media falsely suggested that FTX would begin creditor and customer repayments on Sept. 30. However, the court has not approved any repayment plan.
According to court filings, Judge John T. Dorsey will preside over the next hearing on FTX’s restructuring plan, which is scheduled for Oct. 7.
If approved, claimants with amounts under $50,000 could begin receiving payments by late 2024. Those owed larger sums may have to wait until mid-2025.
Sunil Kavuri, an FTX creditors’ representative, also debunked the rumor and reiterated that repayments depend on the court’s approval of the restructuring plan. He stated:
“Large accounts [are] spreading falseinformation [that] FTX distribution has started and/or start on 1st Oct etc and $16 billion inflow.”
FTX repayment plan
Meanwhile, FTX’s proposed repayment plan continues to face resistance from creditors, especially after new information about the firm’s plan for its shareholders has emerged.
According to a court filing, FTX’s debtors allocated 18% of proceeds from government forfeitures to a special fund for select shareholders, capped at $230 million.
This arrangement, made on Aug. 28, was not disclosed until Sept. 27, the final day for the estate to file the amended plan. Notably, FTX creditors, unaware of this provision, had already voted in favor of the plan by the Aug. 16 deadline.
This news sparked considerable outrage among FTX creditors. Kavuri pointed out that creditors might only recover 10-25% of their assets due to the firm’s plan to base its payouts on the petition date valuation.
According to him:
“[This is] a quick estimate of how much petition date is going to pay us vs. current value e.g BTC [was] 16k [as of petition date] vs.[its current price of] 65k.

Despite approving options trading for IBIT on Sept. 20, the regulator claimed it needs more time to consider the decision on Ethereum ETFs.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has delayed its decision to allow options trading for BlackRockand Bitwise’s spot Ethereum (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) until mid-November, according to Sept. 24 filings.
The new deadlines for BlackRock and Bitwise are Nov. 10 and Nov. 11, respectively. The SEC stated it needed more time to consider the proposal and extended the initial 45-day review period that would have ended on Sept. 26 for BlackRock since Nasdaq filed for the rule change for the iShares Ethereum Trust ETF on July 22.
The same reasoning was applied to Bitwise’s ETHW, which had its decision date delayed to Nov. 11 since the proposed rule change was filed one day after BlackRock’s.
Options are a big deal for crypto ETFs
BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) received clearancefor options trading from the SEC on Sept. 20.
Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said this was a “huge win” for Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs, as it will attract more liquidity and, consequently, more “big fish.”
Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets research at VanEck, also shared a report by K33 Research on Sept. 24, which highlighted that Bitcoin’s derivatives market is 279x smaller than its equity and commodity counterparts.
Notably, the Bitcoin options volume traded on the top five centralized crypto exchanges was equivalent to roughly $33.3 billion between Sept. 1 and Sept. 22.
Meanwhile, Ethereum options’ volume in the same period amounted to just $9.2 billion, over three times smaller than Bitcoin’s. Thus, Ethereum ETFs have even more room for growth with the addition of options trading by the SEC.

Experts believe that the approval would pave the way for more diverse funds providing exposure to Bitcoin.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved Nasdaq to list and trade options on BlackRock’sspot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) product, iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT).
Options trading enables investors to buy or sell assets at a pre-determined price, helping them speculate on price movements. So, this decision marks another step toward broadening the range of Bitcoin-linked derivatives, offering investors more tools to manage exposure to the flagship crypto asset.
However, the product still requires the approval of the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
More Bitcoin ETF-based products
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas noted that other major firms might soon receive approval for their own Bitcoin ETF options.
He said:
“Huge win for the the bitcoin ETFs (as it will attract more liquidity which will in turn attract more big fish).”
Nate Geraci, President of ETF Store, suggested that approving options for spot Bitcoin ETFs could lead to the development of more Bitcoin ETF-based products.
Geraci stated:
“Expect a flurry of various ETF filings like Bitcoin buffer or defined outcome ETFs, Bitcoin premium income or yield max (covered call) ETFs, Bitcoin tail risk ETFs, Bitcoin convexity ETFs.”
‘Gamma squeeze possibility’
Jeff Park, head of alpha strategies and portfolio manager at asset management firm Bitwise, pointed out that Bitcoin options will likely generate strong institutional demand, setting the stage for a gamma squeeze.
A gamma squeeze occurs when stock prices rise rapidly because market makers buy more stock to cover their options positions, driven by high demand for call options.
In Bitcoin’s case, Park explained that the Bitcoin ETF options market introduces regulated leverage on a supply-constrained asset. He added:
“With Bitcoin options, investors can now make duration-based portfolio allocation bets, especially for long-term horizons. There’s a good chance that owning long-dated OTM calls as premium spend will give investors more bang for their buck than a fully-collateralized position that could drop by 80% over the same period.”

Binance's Moonbix to debut on Telegram, promising crypto rewards
Binance has announced the upcoming release of “Moonbix,” a new play-to-earn (P2E) game on Telegram’s Mini App, according to a Sept. 17 post on X.
Moonbix is a Binance crypto-themed game that lets players explore galaxies, collect items, and boost their scores. In videos shared on X, users can be seen controlling a spaceship equipped with a claw-like tool that allows them to collect items like yellow stones and gifts scattered across the galaxy.
These items hold in-game value, and collecting them helps players climb the leaderboard. Based on their progress, top performers earn crypto rewards.
Binance stated that the game leaked ahead of schedule as the application was still being fine-tuned to deliver the best possible experience upon the official launch. It added:
“We apologize for any inconvenience, and we’re reviewing individual cases for users affected. We truly appreciate your patience, and the official release will be announced soon!”
The exchange also urged users to remain cautious of impersonation accounts and advised them to rely on official Binance channels for updates.
As of press time, Binance had released the Terms and Conditions for its Telegram Mini App.
Telegram Mini Apps
Telegram Mini Apps (TMAs) are web-based applications running within Telegram, introduced in 2023. Since then, TMAs have seen huge success, with 500 million of Telegram’s 950 million users engaging with them monthly.
Popular apps like Notcoin and Hamster Kombat have contributed to this surge. Hamster Kombat, in particular, snowballed, gaining over 300 million users since its launch in March 2024.
The rise of these apps has further supported crypto adoption, aided by Telegram’s integration with The Open Network (TON), one of the top-performing blockchains this year.

Sell-off after rate cuts, nearing resistance, and overall bullish indicators paint Bitcoin's landscape this week, according to analysts.
Bitcoin (BTC) faces potential price volatility this week as the Federal Reserve (Fed) is likely to cut the US interest rate by at least 25 basis points (bps), according to the latest “BitfinexAlpha” report.
However, the movement depends on whether the Fed will cut 25 bps or 50 bps, as a smaller cut could trigger “bullish optimism.” In contrast, a more significant cut will likely make investors go with a “cautious de-risking.”
Bitfinex analysts highlighted that this volatility might be more evident in inflows across spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF) and derivatives markets.
Moreover, rate cuts are often followed by a sell-off in equities and other risk assets on the near team, which adds to investors’ cautious stance. Yet, the report points out that these past patterns provide guidance but are not fail-proof to predict future behavior.
Overall bullish indicators
On the price action side, the analysts at Bitfinex suggested that a local bottom at $52,756 might have formed after Bitcoin dipped to that level on Sept. 6 and quickly rebounded by over 15%.
This price recovery was followed by a week of positive flows to U.S.-traded spot Bitcoin ETFs, which registered $403.9 million in inflows after bleeding nearly $1 billion in the two weeks prior.
Notably, the return of ETF inflows was met by a rise in the S&P 500, suggesting growing investor confidence in riskier assets despite the possible volatility outcome later this week.
Furthermore, the report highlighted that recent Bitcoin price increases have been driven by spot market buying rather than futures or perpetuals trading. This is evidenced by the Spot Cumulative Volume Delta (CVD) data, which shows consistent upward pressure since Bitcoin dipped below $53,000 earlier this month.
Local challenge between $60,000 and $61,000
Adding another layer of complexity to Bitcoin’s short-term price action, Bitfinex cautions that BTC is approaching the crucial $60,500-$61,000 resistance level, which has been pivotal since early March.
The report also notes that total Bitcoin Open Interest across perpetual trading pairs has risen about 14% since the sub-$53,000 move, aligning with price movement.
If Bitcoin is rejected on the $61,000 resistance level in a week poised for high volatility, the report concluded that traders and investors should prepare for potentially rapid and significant price movements in the immediate future.