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A group of FTX customers located outside of the United States has asked the court overseeing the cryptocurrency exchange\u2019s bankruptcy case to have their names withheld, court documents show<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The 15 creditors\u2014who say they are collectively owed $1.9 billion by FTX\u2014said in a Wednesday filing that they wanted to remain anonymous because \u201ccryptocurrency holders are particularly susceptible to fraud and theft.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n They added in the filing that \u201ccryptocurrency is difficult to trace and there are fewer security safeguards in place to protect the assets.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n These FTX customers aren\u2019t the only ones who want to protect their identities. In November, Judge John Dorsey\u2014who is overseeing the case\u2014<\/span>decided<\/span><\/a> to withhold the names of the biggest FTX creditors at the company\u2019s request.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n FTX argued that publishing creditors\u2019 names could reveal private information\u2014such as email or physical addresses\u2014and compromise their security. The top 50 creditors are owed an estimated $3.1 billion following the collapse of the crypto exchange.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n However, the <\/span>New York Times<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Dow Jones<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Bloomberg<\/span><\/i>, and the <\/span>Financial Times<\/span><\/i> this month filed a suit asking for the names to be revealed. The judge then <\/span>said<\/span><\/a> he\u2019d allow the media organizations to argue their case in January.<\/span><\/p>\n FTX, which allowed customers to buy, sell, and bet on the future price of digital assets, <\/span>blew up<\/span><\/a> in November allegedly because of gross mismanagement. Counsel to FTX\u2019s new management James Bromley described it as \u201cone of the most abrupt and difficult collapses in the history of corporate America.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n John J. Ray III, a veteran insolvency professional and the company\u2019s new CEO, <\/span>claimed<\/span><\/a> that FTX was so badly managed that its staff used consumer-level apps Slack and QuickBooks to handle the multibillion-dollar behemoth\u2019s finances.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Ray, who dealt with the collapse of Enron alongside other major bankruptcy cases, <\/span>said<\/span><\/a> that the Bahamas-based company\u2019s downfall was caused by \u201ca very small group of grossly inexperienced and unsophisticated individuals.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n It is alleged that FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried commingled customers\u2019 investments with those of its sister trading firm Alameda Research\u2014also founded by the crypto mogul\u2014without clients knowing.<\/span><\/p>\n Bankman-Fried is now <\/span>facing eight criminal charges<\/span><\/a>\u2014including wire fraud and money laundering\u2014along with charges from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and a lawsuit from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). He is currently <\/span>under house arrest<\/span><\/a> at his parents\u2019 house on a $250 million bond.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Bankman-Fried was <\/span>extradited<\/span><\/a> from the Bahamas last week, where he <\/span>spent days<\/span><\/a> in prison before his transfer to the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n