Bitfinex signs letter of intent with BnkToTheFuture to compensate customer losses with equity

Online investment platform BnkToTheFuture has announced that it has signed a letter of intent with bitcoin exchange platform Bitfinex in order to facilitate the exchange of customer losses into equity.

According to the official announcement, the two companies will cooperate to provide solutions to compensate customers with equity after Bitfinex announced a loss of 36% in funds held with the exchange.

 We have formally signed a letter of intent with BnkToTheFuture, the online investment platform for financial innovation and technology investment opportunities, to provide solutions towards compensating customers with equity in Bitfinex.
BnkToTheFuture will be providing a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) through which qualifying BFX token holders can contribute their tokens in exchange for an equity interest in compliance with their individual jurisdictions. Further details will be released in future announcements.
BnkToTheFuture has hosted funding rounds resulting in over $70m worth of investments from qualified investors over the past year including investments in BitPay, BitPesa, Uphold, ShapeShift and many others. They now host the largest global community of qualified investors investing online in FinTech, Bitcoin, Blockchain and Technology companies. 

 The Hong Kong-based Bitfinex earlier reported the theft of nearly 120K bitcoins. The company later created a new token – BFX to account for the loss, with a face value of US$1. These tokens were issued to customers in proportion to the losses suffered by the theft. BnkToTheFuture will provide a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) that will enable qualifying BFX token holders to contribute their tokens in exchange for an equity interest in iFinex Inc. Further details are expected to be released in future announcements. 

 This hack is the latest saga in Bitcoin’s history. As a community we need to learn from this experience and develop our own solutions, we are exploring such options with Bitfinex. Bitfinex has shown a commitment to do all they can to help and support their customers as much as possible in a situation that has no perfect solution,” Simon Dixon, CEO and co-founder of BnkToTheFuture said. “BFX was an innovative approach towards making users whole and we are working with Bitfinex on several possibilities to accomplish their goals. 

 Simon also believes that when the theft of clients’ funds from an exchange take place, there should be a focus on finding best market solutions which can in-turn compensate investors faster than traditional methods of proceedings. He believes that using blockchain assets and financial innovation will help in producing faster and better solutions for victims. 

 Funding rounds were hosted by BnkToTheFuture resulting in more than $70m worth of investments over the past year from qualified investors including investments in Uphold, ShapeShift, BitPesa, among others. They host the largest global community of qualified investors investing online in fintech, bitcoin, blockchain and technology companies. 

 Our commitment was to get the exchange back online securely so that customers know where they stand and to issue all users their BFX tokens. This is now complete and we have enabled trading of BFX tokens. We are committed to releasing updates and reports detailing the events of the hack and a financial update for customers and qualifying investors before we begin any equity conversion and have engaged third parties to complete this process,” Jean Louis van der Velde, CEO of BitFinex said. 

 Both the companies have begun their work that will enable customers to redeem their BFX tokens with the help of BnkToTheFuture platform. The companies will be discussing various other options in an aim to further minimize the loss for the hack victims.​