FTX, the exchange that collapsed in November 2022, moved about $2.2 billion to creditors on March 31, 2026 — its fourth distribution under the bankruptcy plan, per the FTX Recovery Trust announcement of March 18, 2026. Most recipients received their money within one to three business days through the payment partners BitGo or Kraken.
L4 News publishes information, not investment advice. Bankruptcy recoveries and crypto prices are two different subjects, and neither this report nor any distribution is a reason to buy or sell anything.
Who is getting paid in this round?
Creditors with allowed claims in the plan's convenience and non-convenience classes — customers and others the bankrupt exchange owed money to. The trust pays through BitGo and Kraken, and most creditors saw funds land within one to three business days of March 31, per the announcement.
This is the fourth tranche, not the last word: payouts under a Chapter 11 plan arrive in waves as assets are liquidated and claims reconciled. If you filed a claim and were eligible for this round, the money arrives through the distribution partners the trust named — not through anyone offering to "speed it up."
Why are claims paid at November 2022 prices?
Because bankruptcy law values claims at the petition date. FTX filed for Chapter 11 on November 11, 2022, so customer balances were converted to dollar amounts using crypto prices from that week — not from the day you are paid. A customer who held one bitcoin gets the November 2022 dollar value, whatever bitcoin trades at in 2026.
The analogy is a shuttered bank's liquidation — and it breaks down at speed: crypto prices moved enormously between 2022 and 2026, in both directions. That gap is why many creditors describe even full recoveries as partial ones: the dollar number matches, the bitcoin number does not.
What should recipients be careful about?
Impersonators. Big distributions reliably produce phishing waves — emails and messages that mimic the trust or its partners, pointing at fake claim portals that harvest logins and wallet approvals. The trust communicates through the official claims agent channels named in its announcements, and it does not need your seed phrase, private keys or a fee to release money already owed to you.
Three habits cover most of the risk: treat any unsolicited "distribution help" as hostile; reach the claims portal only by typing the official address yourself, never through a link in a message; and be skeptical of third parties offering to buy your claim at a discount — selling a valid claim cheaply is a loss, not a shortcut.
What does this chapter mean for crypto users generally?
That "the exchange owes you" and "you can withdraw today" are different states. FTX customers waited years for partial dollar recoveries; the fourth distribution of March 31, 2026 was a milestone in that wait, not its end. Whoever holds your keys determines whose timeline you are on.
The boring lesson survives every bankruptcy: an exchange balance is a claim on a company. Self-custody removes the company from that sentence — while making you solely responsible for the keys, which is its own honest trade-off.
For more context, read What is a seed phrase, and why does it matter?.
For more context, read strategy bitcoin sale 2026.
For more context, read What does a crypto exchange delisting mean?.
