Identities of FTX Users Will Be Kept Secret for Now — and FTX Arena is Getting Renamed
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Identities of FTX Users Will Be Kept Secret for Now — and FTX Arena is Getting Renamed

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Created 1yr ago, last updated 1yr ago

During the dizzying heights of the bull market, Sam Bankman-Fried had signed a 19-year deal for naming rights to the FTX Arena that was worth a staggering $135 million.

Identities of FTX Users Will Be Kept Secret for Now — and FTX Arena is Getting Renamed

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The identities of up to nine million FTX customers will remain secret for at least another three months, a court has ruled.

Judge John Dorsey has effectively sided with the exchange's new management, who feared disclosing their names and financial information could lead to identity theft and unlawful harm.

In bankruptcy court, Dorsey said that he was reluctant to put these details into the public domain over fears that innocent users could be put at risk.

Of course, there are other concerns at play here — as details of FTX's customer book could also be exceptionally valuable to rivals.

This is a particularly unusual ruling, considering that the details of creditors is usually disclosed in court filings when a bankruptcy commences.

You may remember that this was the case with Celsius Network, when a 14,500-page court document outlined the names of customers — and how much they were owed.

Within a matter of days, a website had been established that included a leaderboard of which Celsius users had lost the most money.

RIP FTX Arena

In other developments, it's been announced that the FTX Arena will be renamed.

The judge has given permission for officials in Florida to remove FTX's branding from the stadium that's used by the NBA's Miami Heat team, according to the AP news agency.

During the dizzying heights of the bull market, Sam Bankman-Fried had signed a 19-year deal for naming rights that was worth a staggering $135 million.

But ever since FTX's bankruptcy emerged in November, Miami-Dade County has been attempting to get the deal annulled — fearful of PR damage.

Unfortunately, removing all traces of FTX from the arena isn't going to be an overnight job.

FTX's logo is currently emblazoned on the stadium's roof — with advertising throughout the arena itself.

The doomed exchange's branding also appears on the polo shirts worn by security workers and the identity cards used by staff, the report noted.

At this stage, it's unclear whether there's another business that's waiting in the wings to pounce on the naming rights for the stadium.

Many crypto businesses spent lavishly on big sponsorship deals as the market accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic — slapping their logos on everything from football kits to F1 cars.

But in recent months, it's been announced that many of these deals are no longer being renewed — with retail investors fleeing the market as BTC headed to a bear market bottom.

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