FTX estate prepares to sell $38 million of locked Worldcoin tokens at a discount
2024-10-02

The FTX estate is set to auction 22.3 million locked Worldcoin (WLD) tokens, currently valued at around $37.7 million, at a significant discount, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter told The Block. The sale is part of the estate's ongoing effort to recover funds for creditors.
Interested buyers must submit their bids for the WLD token sale by 8 PM ET Wednesday, two of the sources said, adding that those parties will be notified by Thursday if their bids are accepted. The discount on the WLD tokens could range from 40% to 75% off the current spot market price of WLD, which is trading at around $1.69, the two sources said.
The FTX estate holds a total of 22.3 million WLD tokens, indicating that there will be no further auctions for these tokens, according to the two sources.
The WLD tokens will unlock daily through 2028. Specifically, 20,539 WLD tokens will unlock daily from Dec. 1, 2024, to July 24, 2026, and 13,689 WLD tokens will unlock daily from July 25, 2026, to July 24, 2028, the two sources added.
One of the three sources, along with a separate fourth source, expressed concerns about the length of the lockup periods for the WLD tokens.
Earlier this week, Figure Markets co-founder and CEO Mike Cagney posted on X that the FTX estate is auctioning its WLD token position, mentioning it could be at a discount of around 75%. He noted that the WLD tokens will unlock daily through 2028. Cagney also said that Figure Markets might establish a fund to participate in the WLD token auction, similar to what the firm did for the FTX estate’s Solana (SOL) auction earlier this year.
The FTX estate previously sold SOL and Metaplex (MPLX) tokens before moving on to WLD. In May, the FTX estate wrapped up the sale of its $7.5 billion stash of discounted Solana tokens, which attracted interest from high-profile investors, including Pantera Capital. Last month, as The Block reported, several crypto funds, including Pantera Capital and ParaFi Capital, bought 62.6 million MPLX tokens from Wave Digital Assets, which were originally held by the FTX estate.
The FTX estate appears to have sold most of its tokens and now holds approximately $594 million in remaining assets, according to Arkham data. However, a significant portion of these assets, some $541 million, is in the form of FTX's FTT token, which is highly illiquid and may not get sold as the estate marked it to zero.
(with contribution from Tim Copeland)
The Funding newsletter: Stay updated on the latest crypto funding news and trends with my bimonthly newsletter, The Funding. It's free. Sign up here!
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
© 2024 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.