FTX customers attempt roundabout ways to withdraw their funds in Bahamas

As the FTX crisis continues its outpour, users of the platform try various ways to bypass the official process of withdrawing their funds from the collapsing exchange. 

On Nov. 10, the exchange announced that it will begin withdrawals of funds based in the Bahamas. According to the exchange, the move aims to have its comply Bahamian headquarters with the demands of regulators within the country.

1) Per our Bahamian HQ’s regulation and regulators, we have begun to facilitate withdrawals of Bahamian funds. As such, you may have seen some withdrawals processed by FTX recently as we complied with the regulators.

— FTX (@FTX_Official) November 10, 2022

From buying nonfungible tokens (NFTs) on Bamahas-based accounts to offering bounties to FTX employees, FTX users are trying whatever they can do to withdraw their funds from the crypto exchange. 

Several tweets from community members watching blockchain transactions highlighted that NFTs are being used to bypass the bankruptcy process. According to podcaster Cobie, many of the users with stuck balances are likely to be buying NFTs from FTX’s marketplace that was put up by users based in the Bahamas with their full balances so that they could withdraw. Blogger and NFT project founder foobar also spoke on the process being done by users and highlighted that there have been millions of Tether (USDT) withdrawn so far.

Meanwhile, other users have turned to offering bounties to FTX employees in exchange for expediting their know-your-customer (KYC) applications or changing their account details to reflect that they reside in the Bahamas.

Related: Rumors continue to fly surrounding Sam Bankman-Fried and the fall of FTX

A Twitter user offered $1 million and unlimited legal fees to those who work in FTX to change the user’s country of residence to the Bahamas. However, hours after the initial tweet, the user mentioned that it was simply a “funny experiment” but noted that many people with stuck funds wanted to actually do the same thing.

Trader AlgodTrading tweeted an offer of $100,000 to FTX employees to process his KYC request. Blockchain records show that the user was then able to withdraw their funds from the crypto exchange.

While taking their funds out of the exchange may look like a good move to many, some believe that it’s a bad idea. Crypto researcher FatMan tweeted that bribing an FTX employee and bypassing the credit and bankruptcy process for other people’s balances is not the brightest idea.