A group of FTX’s international customers asked for a court order shielding their names from the public, spotlighting a privacy issue that has divided bankruptcy courts in other crypto-related cases, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Unnamed customers of FTX.com, the failed company’s largest exchange platform outside the U.S., said in court papers Wednesday their interest in keeping their identities and contact information secret trumps the public’s interest in an open and transparent bankruptcy process. Public disclosure of customer identities puts them at risk of identity theft and cyber scams, and could diminish whatever value remains in FTX, according to the customer group. “It is difficult to imagine a more compelling case that would warrant withholding and redacting the information of the thousands of FTX.com customers who had their funds stolen and never anticipated that their use of cryptocurrency and FTX.com would become publicly known,” the customers’ filing said. Justice Department lawyers and media organizations including The Wall Street Journal have asked in bankruptcy court for FTX customers’ names to be disclosed in its public filings. The judge overseeing FTX’s chapter 11 case is scheduled to consider next month if the identifying information should be redacted. Bankruptcy courts normally require transparency into the affairs of troubled businesses, including their creditors, in return for the protections of chapter 11. FTX, Celsius Network LLC and other crypto platforms moving through bankruptcy have said their customers should nonetheless stay anonymous.
