FTX customers attempt roundabout ways to withdraw their funds in Bahamas

From buying Bahamas-based NFTs to offering bounties to FTX employees, users with balances stuck in FTX are trying whatever they can to withdraw their money.

As the FTX crisis continues to permeate through the cryptosphere, users of the platform are trying 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 Bahamian headquarters comply 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 highlight that NFTs are being used to bypass the bankruptcy process. According to podcaster Cobie, many of the users with stuck balances are likely buying NFTs from FTX’s marketplace put up for sale by users based in the Bahamas. Those stuck users pay with their full balances so that the Bahamas-based users can withdraw their funds. Blogger and NFT project founder Foobar also spoke on the process and highlighted that millions of Tether (USDT) have been withdrawn so far.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

One Twitter user offered to pay $1 million and unlimited legal fees for someone who works at FTX to change their country of residence to the Bahamas. Hours after the initial tweet, the user mentioned that it was simply a “funny experiment” but noted that many people with stuck funds actually wanted to 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 one’s funds out of the exchange may look like a good move to many, some believe thit’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.