The founder and former CEO of collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, has deferred testifying before the United States Congress, saying he would appear before the US House Committee on Financial Services after he “finished learning and reviewing” the events that led to the collapse.

FTX Japan has confirmed that it is looking to restart customer withdrawals after a plan to return deposits was approved by its parent company, the failed FTX exchange. If the plan works out, the exchange’s users in Japan may be some of the first to get their funds back.

Cryptocurrency lender Genesis and its parent company Digital Currency Group (DCG) reportedly owe $900 million to Gemini’s clients. Gemini operates a product called Earn in partnership with Genesis that offered investors the ability to lend funds to earn interest.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• FTX’s Former CEO Defers Testifying Before US Congress
• FTX Japan Plans to Restart Withdrawals For Local Users
• Crypto Lender Genesis Reportedly Owes $900 Million to Gemini Clients
• What is Litecoin?

FTX’s Former CEO Defers Testifying Before US Congress

The founder and former CEO of collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, has deferred testifying before the United States Congress, saying he would appear before the US House Committee on Financial Services after he “finished learning and reviewing” the events that led to the collapse.

On Twitter, Bankman-Fried wrote that once he finished doing so, he would “feel like” it was his duty to “appear before the committee and explain.” He added: “I’m not sure that will happen by the 13th.  But when it does, I will testify.”

The former CEO’s comments came in response to a tweet from Maxine Waters, the Democratic congresswoman who chairs the committee, who invited him to appear at a hearing to examine FTX’s collapse.

The US House Financial Services is set to hear from companies and individuals involved in the collapse, which saw FTX freeze customer withdrawals and reveal that it relied on illiquid assets and its FTT token, on November13.

Bankman-Fried has said he “made a lot of mistakes” in his handling of the cryptocurrency exchange and that he didn’t “knowingly commingle funds” from FTX’s users with those of quant trading firm Alameda Research. FTX owes over $3 billion to its largest creditors.

FTX Japan Plans to Restart Withdrawals For Local Users

FTX Japan has confirmed that it is looking to restart customer withdrawals after a plan to return deposits was approved by its parent company, the failed FTX exchange. If the plan works out, the exchange’s users in Japan may be some of the first to get their funds back.

Withdrawals from FTX Japan were halted on November 8 after local financial regulators ordered the trading firm to suspend its services. Sam Bankman-Fried’s enterprise, FTX Trading Ltd., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. three days later.

In a notice, FTX Japan said it was able to confirm with the company’s lawyers in the U.S. that Japanese customers’ funds “should not be a part of FTX Japan’s estate given how these assets are held and property interests under Japanese law.” The firm said:

"Development work for this plan has already started and our engineering teams are working to allow FTX Japan users to withdraw their funds. As part of the plan, we are incorporating controls, security audit, reconciliations and reviews to put in place a robust and secure process,"

FTX Japan is set to "publish information about customer assets held in segregated wallets" and in a trust account each week.

Crypto Lender Genesis Reportedly Owes $900 Million to Gemini Clients

Cryptocurrency lender Genesis and its parent company Digital Currency Group (DCG) reportedly owe $900 million to Gemini’s clients. Gemini operates a product called Earn in partnership with Genesis that offered investors the ability to lend funds to earn interest.

Last month, Genesis announced it had temporarily suspended withdrawals citing “unprecedented market turmoil” after the collapse of FTX. The lender had around $175 million stuck in an FTX trading account and later on faced difficulties raising money for its lending unit.

Gemini has formed a creditor’s committee and is working to recoup the funds from Genesis and DCG. In an effort to restore clients’ trust, the firm launched its Trust Center, a dashboard showing metrics for funds held by Gemini and on the exchange’s behalf.

What is Litecoin?

Litecoin (LTC) is widely seen as the first successful alternative cryptocurrency (altcoin). It was created back in 2011 as a fork of Bitcoin, and features near-zero cost peer-to-peer transactions.

It differs from the flagship cryptocurrency in a number of ways, however, with reduced transaction confirmation times, lower fees, a larger maximum supply of 84 million LTC, and other different technical aspects.

LTC is often referred to as the “silver to Bitcoin’s gold,” and just like BTC, it runs on an open-source blockchain that isn’t controlled by any central authority. It can be mined through a Proof-of-Work consensus algorithm, with miners being rewarded for adding new blocks to the blockchain. Its mining algorithm initially attempted to reduce the effectiveness of specialized mining equipment, but it was unsuccessful in doing so.

Just like Bitcoin, Litecoin undergoes halving events, in which the base reward for miners who find blocks on the network is halved.

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