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(Bloomberg) — The pound sterling — regarded as the world’s oldest currency still in use since its inception more than a thousand years ago — is almost as volatile as new-comer Bitcoin as of late. Here’s a look at the 30-day volatility for both:

It’s been almost a year since Bitcoin hit a record around $68,000. It’s now trading at about $19,000. Where do you see it going from here? Fill out our survey.

NOTE: Felice Maranz writes for Bloomberg’s Markets Live blog. The observations she makes are her own and not intended as investment advice. For more markets commentary, see the MLIV blog.

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(Bloomberg) — Michael Patchen has left his role as chief risk officer at crypto-broker Genesis after three months, according to a person familiar with the matter. 

Genesis, a unit of Barry Silbert’s Digital Currency Group, didn’t return several requests for comment. Patchen didn’t return a call for comment. 

Patchen’s exit follows a recent wave of departures at the New York-based lender. Bloomberg News reported last month that multiple senior executives at Genesis had left as part of a leadership shuffle in the aftermath of its exposure to bankrupt hedge fund Three Arrows Capital as well as a broad market downturn. 

Genesis announced a 20% layoff and a new leadership team over the summer. The company’s Chief Executive Officer Michael Moro stepped down in August. 

Prior to Genesis, Patchen spent more than five years with AQR Capital Management as principal and chief risk officer, according to his LinkedIn profile. He has also held roles with Carlson Capital, SAC Capital and Deutsche Bank, among others. 

Genesis had announced his joining the firm over the summer as part of its reshuffle.  

Genesis was the biggest creditor ensnared in the collapse of Three Arrows after the fund failed to meet margin calls. Digital Currency Group assumed some liabilities and filed a $1.2 billion claim against Three Arrows, which is under liquidation.

–With assistance from Muyao Shen and Yueqi Yang.

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(Bloomberg) — The stock market saw another down day, with Treasury yields climbing amid hawkish remarks from Federal Reserve officials and swaps pricing in a 5% peak policy rate in 2023. The pound wavered after Liz Truss resigned as UK prime minister.

A rally in the S&P 500 fizzled out after Philadelphia Fed chief Patrick Harker said policymakers are likely to raise rates to “well above” 4% this year and hold them at restrictive level — while leaving the door open to doing more if needed. Fed Governor Lisa Cook also spoke, noting that rates will need to keep rising to get inflation under control. The current rate sits between 3% and 3.25%.

“Stocks are not out of the woods yet,” said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at City Index and Forex.com. “Fears over further tightening of central bank policy amid an environment of high-inflation and low-growth means investors will avoid buying stocks aggressively. Even at these relatively-inexpensive levels.”

Traders also scoured a mixed bag of quarterly results, with Tesla Inc.’s sales disappointing and International Business Machines Corp. topping forecasts. Several market observers said the bar has been lowered quite a bit ahead of the earnings season, boosting the odds of upside surprises. It’s also worth noting that there’s been no shortage of warning signals about the economy from the corporate side.

Alcoa Corp., for instance, joined a rebound in metals. But its quarterly loss signaled a worsening environment for a company that last month warned investors it was being squeezed by higher costs and falling aluminum prices. And that’s a dependable barometer of the health of sectors including construction, automotive, aerospace and consumer packaging.

Another worrisome signal came from Union Pacific Corp., the largest US freight railroad, which cut its forecast for volume growth to reflect a “challenging year.”

As traders wade through corporate results, “with an extra eye on guidance, expect volatility to remain elevated,” said Mike Loewengart at Morgan Stanley Global Investment Office.

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• The S&P 500 fell 0.9% as of 2:40 p.m. New York time
• The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.7%
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3%
• The MSCI World index fell 0.6%

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
• The euro rose 0.1% to $0.9785
• The British pound rose 0.1% to $1.1231
• The Japanese yen fell 0.1% to 150.08 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies

• Bitcoin fell 0.9% to $19,032.81
• Ether fell 0.7% to $1,285.58

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced eight basis points to 4.21%
• Germany’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 2.40%
• Britain’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 3.91%

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.5% to $85.98 a barrel
• Gold futures were little changed

–With assistance from Vildana Hajric and Peyton Forte.

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(Bloomberg) — Almost eight months into Russia’s invasion, Ukrainians were warned of rolling blackouts due to damage to the country’s power infrastructure from missile attacks. Camping stoves, generators and winter underwear are in high demand. “Controlled limits” were placed on electricity consumption in Kyiv and several northern and central areas on Thursday.

The UK defense secretary said a Russian warplane in late September fired a missile “in the vicinity of” an unarmed Royal Air Force jet flying in international airspace over the Black Sea. 

Weeks after Russia and Belarus announced the formation of a new joint force, and days after the force started to assemble in Belarus, Ukraine’s army faces rising military threats from the north. Russian servicemen, equipment and aircraft are flooding into Belarus. 

(See RSAN on the Bloomberg Terminal for the Russian Sanctions Dashboard.) 

Key Developments

• Putin’s Belarusian Ally Lets Him Build Up Forces Near Ukraine Again 
• US and Five APEC Allies Issue Joint Statement Blasting Russia
• Ukraine Faces Rolling Blackouts After Attacks on Power Stations
• Ukraine’s New Central Banker Focuses on IMF Aid: Decision Guide
• Italy’s Rising Coalition Dealt Blow After Berlusconi Lauds Putin

On the Ground

Russia launched three missiles, delivered 20 air strikes and used multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS) as many as 10 times on Thursday, Ukraine’s General Staff said. Of 20 Iranian drones launched today, Ukrainian forces shot down 15. Iran has called claims it’s sending missiles to Russia “baseless.” Russia hit Mykolaiv and the surrounding region with C-300 missiles on Thursday morning, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the president’s office, said on Telegram. Ukrainian forces repelled Russian assaults near nine settlements in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, including Bakhmut, Ukraine’s General Staff said. Russia hit an industrial facility and energy infrastructure in the Kryvyi Rih district of the Dnipropetrovsk region overnight.  

(All times CET)

Zelenskiy Met Goldman Sachs Executives in Kyiv (8:45 p.m.)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met Goldman Sachs Executive Vice-President John Rogers and President of Global Affairs and co-head of the Office of Applied Innovation Jared Cohen in Kyiv, according to his press office. The group discussed Goldman Sachs possibly helping attract investments for Ukraine, including cyberdefense and fighting against fakes.

“I highly appreciate when such people are not scared and come to Ukraine to support us,” Zelenskiy said. “And it is very important to share true information about the situation in Ukraine, Russia’s attacks and their consequences via smart people.”

The visit took place as Russia intensified air raids to destroy Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

Ukraine Limits Electricity Supply in Kyiv, Seven Regions(6:04 p.m.)

Ukraine’s national grid operator Ukrenergo said it’s been forced to temporarily introduce “controlled limits of electricity consumption” after usage levels “rose sharply” at a time citizens have been asked to conserve as much as possible, according to a statement on its Telegram channel. 

The limits are in place for Kyiv and its surrounding regions, as well as for  Kharkiv, Sumy, Chernihiv and Zhytomyr in the north, and the central regions of Poltava and Cherkasy. 

Putin Practices Sniper Shooting With Reservists (5:48 p.m.)

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday visited a training center for mobilized reservists, where he shot a sniper’s rifle several times, state television reported. Dressed in civilian clothes, Putin spoke with one of the reservists briefly and hugged him, the footage showed.

Putin last week said his recent order to call up 300,000 reservists for what he calls a “special operation” in Ukraine would wrap up soon and won’t be extended. 

The order spurred an exodus of draft-age men from the country, hurting consumer confidence and business activity but would likely weigh on the economy for months to come, including by worsening an already-acute labor shortage. 

Ukraine Sees Growing Threat of Russian Offensive From North (4:15 p.m.)

Ukraine’s armed forces see a rising threat of a fresh new military offensive from the north, where Russian and Belarusian troops have assembled a “joint force,” spokesman Oleksiy Hromov said Thursday at a video briefing. 

Putin’s Ally Lets Him Build Up Forces Near Ukraine Again 

Increasingly bellicose rhetoric from Russian and Belarusian leadership has accompanied the deployment of forces in Belarus, which started last weekend, he said. 

The offensive may be repositioned to the northwest part of the Belarus-Ukraine border — that is, closer to Poland — in a bid to cut the main logistical arteries supplying weapons to Ukraine from allies, Hromov said. 

Read more: Ukraine Army Sees Growing Threat of Russian Offensive From North

Turkey Wants Another Russian-Built Atomic Plant (4:08 p.m.)

Turkey asked Russia to build its second nuclear power plant, in the latest sign of closer economic ties even as the US and its allies try to isolate the Kremlin for its invasion of Ukraine. 

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made the request in talks last week in Kazakhstan with Vladimir Putin, their fourth meeting in four months, according to people familiar with the situation. 

Read more: Turkey Asks Russia to Build Another Nuclear Plant, Defying US

Russia Snubbed at Atomic-Energy Summit in Washington (3:45 p.m.) 

Russia will lose its place on stage at an atomic energy summit in Washington next week, as US authorities seek ways to limit the influence of Kremlin-controlled nuclear fuel and technology suppliers on the global market.

The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that executives from Rosatom Corp. and Russia’s industry regulator were dropped from the agenda. White House officials have been considering for months ways to reduce the Kremlin’s influence on global nuclear markets. 

Read more: Russia Removed From Nuclear-Energy Stage at Washington Summit 

Ukrainians Stock Up on Power Banks, Generators (3:48 p.m.)

Demand for power banks, generators and candles jumped in the week since Kremlin forces launched widespread attacks on power infrastructure, said Prom.ua, one of Ukraine’s biggest online sellers. 

“The demand for electric generators rose fivefold, and the average check grew to 20,000 hryvnia ($541),” the retailer said in an emailed comment. 

Gas cylinders, headlamps and camping stoves are also in demand, along with thermal underwear. In September, radiation meters and preventative medicine were the most-coveted items, Prom.ua said.

Push For New EU Sanctions on Russia (2:41 p.m.) 

Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland proposed broadening EU sanctions on Russia by adding a ban on cooperating with Russia on nuclear energy, according to a document seen by Bloomberg News. The nations also want to ban the sale of real estate to Russian citizens and companies and limit the concessions that Belgium previously won on the import of steel products from Russia.

The ninth sanctions package should broaden the ban on information and communication technology services to include computer software and extend the scope of a ban on business services to cover marketing and opinion poll services, according to the document. 

“Schemes involving marketing and leasing services are regularly used in Russia as a cover-up to facilitate flows of a large scale providing funds for military sector,” the countries said.

Ukraine Expects Electrical Equipment Next Week (2:10 p.m.)

Generators, components and spare parts needed to replace equipment damaged by recent Russian strikes are expected to start arriving in Ukraine next week from Italy, France, Lithuania, Finland, Germany and Poland, Ukraine’s foreign minister said. 

“The equipment will help to ensure uninterrupted functioning of Ukrainian households, hospitals and schools,” Dmytro Kuleba said in a statement.

Separately, on Twitter, Kuleba welcomed the EU’s moves against Iran for its provision of drones used by Russia in recent attacks on energy infrastructure and other targets. 

Ukraine Sanctions Thousands of Russian Citizens, Companies (2 p.m.) 

Ukraine sanctioned 1,374 Russian companies and companies affiliated with Russia, and 2,507 individuals, mainly Russian citizens, in decrees signed on Wednesday. 

Billionaire Roman Abramovich was sanctioned, with the proviso that the measures only take effect after an exchange of prisoners and bodies of deceased soldiers between Ukraine and Russia is complete. 

Among others, Ukraine sanctioned billionaire Mikhail Fridman; Petr Aven; Eugene Kaspersky, CEO of the cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab, and the daughter of President Vladimir Putin, Ekaterina Tikhonova.  

UK Says Russia Fired Missile Near RAF Jet in September (1:34 p.m.) 

A Russian aircraft released a missile on Sept. 29 near an unarmed British plane patrolling in international airspace over the Black Sea, UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told parliament during an update on the situation in Ukraine. 

The UK temporarily suspended patrols after the “potentially dangerous” incident and raised its concerns with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Russia, in an Oct. 10 response, blamed a “technical malfunction” by its fighter jet, Wallace said. After consulting with allies, “I have restarted routine patrols but this time escorted by fighter aircraft,” he added. 

Russia’s Defense Ministry didn’t respond to requests for comment. 

Ukraine Keeps Key Rate Steady (1:04 p.m.)

Ukraine’s central bank kept its benchmark borrowing rate unchanged at 25% as the body’s new governor presses ahead with negotiations with the IMF on a financial lifeline for the war-battered economy. 

“Continued cooperation with international partners remains an important factor in maintaining the Ukrainian economy during the full-scale war and postwar recovery,” the Kyiv-based bank said in a statement. 

Russia Controls Only 1.8% of Kharkiv Region, Official Says (12:58 p.m.)

Russia retains control over 1.8% of the area around Kharkiv in the east of Ukraine, Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov said on Telegram. 

“Since September, our military has expelled the occupiers from 544 settlements in the region. Only 1.8% of the region’s territory remains under temporary occupation — that’s 32 settlements,” Syniehubov told. 

Ukraine’s armed forces and local authorities have formed three lines of defense in liberated areas, he said. Kremlin troops continue “limited assaults” in a bit to recapture lost territory, according to the Institute for Study of War. 

Germany Probing Fire at Refugee Shelter (11:45 a.m.)

German authorities are investigating a suspected arson attack at a former hotel housing  housing Ukrainian refugees in the eastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in a tweet that if arson is confirmed the perpetrators would “be prosecuted with the utmost severity.” Emergency services rescued the residents an no one was harmed, she said. 

Italy’s Coalition Roiled by Berlusconi Lauding Putin (11:30 a.m.)

Giorgia Meloni, the right-wing leader poised to be Italy’s next prime minister, said she’d give up on her fledgling coalition if her allies can’t commit to supporting Ukraine along with Italy’s European Union and NATO partners. 

Meloni commented after audio surfaced of coalition partner Silvio Berlusconi saying he rekindled his friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and laying the blame for Russia’s invasion on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. 

EU Adopts Sanctions Against Iran for Drone Sales to Russia (11:23 a.m.)

Bloomberg reported the measures targeting three Iranian generals and Shahed Aviation Industries, a company responsible for the design and development of the Shahed series of Iranian drones that have been supplied to Russia and are currently being used in Ukraine. Iran denies sending weapons to Russia.

EU Splits on Forming War Crimes Tribunal (10:33 a.m.)

Some EU member states are wary about setting up a war crimes tribunal for atrocities committed in Ukraine, following what some said were mixed experiences of the court set to deal with such crimes committed during the 1990s in the former Yugoslavia, according to a person familiar with the issue.

An early version of the EU summit conclusions contained a reference suggesting a special tribunal to investigate crimes of aggression be formed, but the reference to the “special tribunal” was removed in a subsequent draft after opposition from a few countries. Some nations are not pushing to have it restored.

NATO Chief Calls on Iran to Refrain From Backing Russia (10:21 a.m.)

While NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said “every indication points to Iran supplying Russia with drones,” he declined to confirm reports the country is also sending missiles to Russia, saying he wouldn’t go into specific intelligence.

Sweden to Work With Turkey on Support for NATO Bid (10:15 a.m.)

Sweden’s new cabinet will “redouble efforts” to work with Turkey to allay its concerns so that it’s able to ratify the Nordic country’s accession to NATO, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told reporters in Brussels. He added that he’s prepared to visit Ankara as soon as possible, with preparations for the trip already being made.

EU Leaders to Discuss Ukraine’s Emergency Needs (9:41 a.m.)

European Union leaders meeting in Brussels will discuss how to help Ukraine’s emergency energy needs following Russia’s attacks on critical infrastructure this month, according to people familiar with the matter.

The issue was a late addition to the agenda for the summit starting Thursday, the people said. Kyiv has provided a list of its most urgent needs, covering dozens of items such as circuit breakers, disconnecters, transformers and relay protection automation devices.  

Zelenskiy Urges Citizens to Conserve Power (1:40 a.m.)

Zelenskiy urged Ukrainians to use as little electricity as possible on Thursday after electrical grid operator Ukrenergo warned of rolling blackouts because of damage to power infrastructure from Russian missile attacks.

“It is very important energy is consumed with awareness tomorrow,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly address. “We are preparing for all possible scenarios in the light of approaching winter season. We proceed from the fact that Russian terror will be directed at energy facilities until, with the help of our partners, we can shoot down 100% of enemy’s missiles and drones.”

All regions in Ukraine may face four-hour cutoffs between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m., a necessary step because of a shortage of power generation, Ukrenergo said.

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(Bloomberg) — Jamie Dimon, the chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co., will discuss bank taxes and the UK’s plans to boost the finance sector’s competitiveness in a telephone call next week with UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt.

The call comes after mounting concerns among banks that the Treasury may be planning to impose taxes on banks that could reach more than 30% as part of efforts by the UK government to fill its funding black hole.

Hunt has said he would raise corporation tax to 25% from April. Banks are also paying an 8% surcharge on their profits. Unless Hunt reduces the surcharge, lenders will be taxed at 33%, up from 27% now, a level that is much higher than other financial centers such as New York or Frankfurt. 

JPMorgan is one of the biggest overseas banks in the UK, with 19,000 employees. Its European investment banking headquarters is in London and it has a substantial operation in Bournemouth. Last year it launched a digital bank in the UK, Chase, and bought the British online wealth manager Nutmeg.

Dimon’s call with Hunt is due to be scheduled for next week, according to people familiar with the matter who did not want to be identified. The JPMorgan boss has long sought introductory calls and meetings with previous British chancellors, including Hunt’s shortlived predecessor, Kwasi Kwarteng. 

JPMorgan declined to comment.

Hunt has stirred concerns among banks by saying nothing “is off the table” and that he was not opposed to windfall taxes. When bankers asked the Treasury what would happen to the surcharge given that corporation tax is due to rise, they received no guidance, according to people familiar with the matter.

Domestic and international banks based in the UK pay the surcharge on their profits. Large lenders also pay a levy on their balance sheets. Over the summer, there had been hopes that Liz Truss’s government would cut the surcharge and the levy as part of their plan to boost the City of London. Truss resigned Thursday amid spiralling conflict within the ruling Conservative Party.

When the Treasury last looked at bank taxes in October 2021 it set a combined rate of 28%, made up of corporation tax and a reduced surcharge. That level would help ensure the sector remains “internationally competitive,” the Treasury said at the time.

Read More: City of London Tries to Divert Hunt From Tax Raid on Banks

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(Bloomberg) — Copper prices don’t reflect a “strikingly tight” physical market, according to the world’s largest publicly-traded producer of the metal used in everything from computer chips to electric vehicles.

Macroeconomic headwinds have pushed copper futures down almost 30% from a peak in March, despite brisk demand and shrinking inventories that are nearing historical lows. 

It’s “striking how negative financial markets feel about this market and yet the physical market is so tight,” said Richard Adkerson, chief executive officer of Freeport-McMoRan Inc.

“We’re not seeing customers scaling back orders. Customers are really fighting to get products,” Adkerson said Thursday during a conference call with analysts after the miner reported adjusted third-quarter per-share profit that exceeded estimates. 

The decline in copper prices this year reflects investor concerns about the global economy, weak economic data from top consumer China, the European energy crisis and a strong dollar, he added.

Such a pricing environment will defer new copper projects and mine expansions just when the world’s epic shift to electrification requires a massive amount of the metal, according to Adkerson.

Copper’s Slide Heralds Inevitable and Painful Metals Shortage

Copper traded on the London Metal Exchange gained 2.2% to $7,549 a metric ton on Thursday, trimming the year-to-date loss to 22%.

Freeport has been delivering supply growth from a successful ramp-up of underground operations at the Grasberg mine in Indonesia, countering output struggles by peers. Production rose from a year ago to 1.06 billion pounds, it said in a statement, beating the 1.03 billion-pound average estimate among analysts tracked by Bloomberg.

Adjusted earnings slumped to 26 cents a share from 89 cents a year ago as costs rose — but still came in ahead of expectations. Revenue was in line with estimates, while the firm cut capital-expenditure guidance for the full year.

Freeport shares surged as much as 7.9% to $30.60 before trading at $29.65 at 12:17 p.m. in New York.

 

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(Bloomberg) — Celsius Network LLC customers will likely have to fight with large investment funds over who gets to cash in on the bankrupt crypto lender’s most valuable assets.

Investors including venture capital firm WestCap Management LLC and pension fund Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec (CDPQ) believe their equity stakes in Celsius entitle them to value that flows from the company’s crypto mining business and its loan book, among other assets, according to court papers. Customers owed billions of dollars in crypto don’t have claims against those assets, Dennis Dunne of Milbank said on behalf of certain equity holders in a bankruptcy court hearing Thursday.

“We believe we’re in-the-money today,” Dunne said. Preferred equity investors who poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Celsius did so to fund the build-out of its crypto mining operation and the purchase of GK8, the company’s digital asset custody subsidiary, he said. That gives the investors, not customers, a right to those assets, according to Dunne. 

A bankrupt company’s owners typically don’t receive any recovery ahead of its creditors, which in the case of Celsius are its customers. In this case, the stockholders are arguing that the legal entities they invested in — and which own Celsius’s most valuable assets — are separate from those that relate to customer money. 

Attorneys for Celsius creditors disagree. The company’s terms of use give account holders claims against each of Celsius’s legal entities, they argue in court papers. 

The fight will likely impact how much money Celsius customers, which have been locked out of their accounts for months, will recover through the bankruptcy. Celsius is considering a sale of some or all of its assets, while also exploring other ways to repay creditors and exit Chapter 11 protection. 

WestCap and CDPQ led a $400 million investment in Celsius last year that valued it at more than $3 billion, according to a statement at the time. 

The investors on Thursday asked US Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn to appoint an official committee of preferred equity holders, arguing that the company’s formal creditor committee is too dominated by customers to adequately represent stockholder interests. Judge Glenn said he would rule on the request at a later date. 

The bankruptcy is Celsius Network LLC, 22-10964, US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

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(Bloomberg) — Electric-vehicle startup Arrival SA is U-turning from plans to manufacture its vans in the UK, dealing another blow to Britain’s ambition to transition its manufacturing base to battery power.

Arrival ended last quarter with about $330 million on hand, as its plunging share price inhibited efforts to raise funds through at-the-market stock offerings. With cash dwindling and its microfactory northwest of London requiring significant investment to scale up production, the company announced plans Thursday to restructure its business to focus on making vans in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Founder and Chief Executive Officer Denis Sverdlov last month telegraphed Arrival’s interest in seizing on the climate bill signed by President Joe Biden, which supports investment in manufacturing EVs in the US and subsidizes purchases of cars and commercial vehicles. Arrival’s earlier plan had been to deliver its first vans to UK customers this year, then launch its Charlotte microfactory in 2023.

The change in strategy will have a “sizable” affect on Arrival’s workforce, particularly in Britain, the company said in a statement. Roughly 1,000 of the more than 2,000 people employed as of August were in the UK.

Arrival’s announcement follows BMW AG’s decision to cease making electric Mini hatchbacks in the UK and shift production to China. Bloomberg News also reported earlier this month that cash-strapped battery hopeful Britishvolt Ltd. has been in discussions about selling its main factory site to Slovak startup Inobat.

Arrival listed in the US through a reverse merger with a special purpose acquisition company last year. Its shares have plummeted 90% this year.

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(Bloomberg) — Bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital Ltd. agreed to consider higher offers than the $1.4 billion bid it accepted from FTX US, the digital-asset exchange founded by billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, a decision that could increase payouts to customers who had their accounts frozen.

Under an arrangement approved by US Bankruptcy Judge Michael E. Wiles on Wednesday, the company can cancel its deal with FTX should it get a higher offer. The sale can’t close until Wiles approves Voyager’s bankruptcy payout plan, which the Manhattan-based judge may consider in December.

FTX won a two week-long auction for Voyager under a deal tied to court approval of the creditor payment plan, lawyers said during a court hearing held by telephone. Wiles pressed Voyager to include a standard bankruptcy clause called a “fiduciary out,” which allows a company under court protection to consider higher offers until a sale is final.

FTX is currently “the only viable alternative” for the company, Voyager bankruptcy attorney Christine Okike told Wiles. The company agreed to change how the fiduciary out is worded to ensure a better offer can be considered.

One losing bidder, crytpo exchange CrossTower, will continue to press its offer, which it believes is better than FTX’s bid, CrossTower lawyer John Ashmead told Wiles during the hearing. 

“CrossTower will continue to drive towards a transaction that maximizes value for Voyager’s customers,” the company said in an emailed statement. “We believe in the cryptocurrency industry.”

Voyager declined to comment on CrossTower’s continued interest. 

Wiles warned any potential bidders that they do not have long to top the FTX offer. In bankruptcy, even after an auction ends and the bankrupt company declares a winner, a judge can reject the deal. Such actions are very rare, however, and usually involve a clearly superior offer that is backed by creditors.

The official committee of unsecured creditors in Voyager’s case supports the company’s current payout plan, which is based on a sale to FTX. Ashmead said CrossTower will try to work with the committee.

Voyager has also asked Wiles to give it permission to send the payout plan to creditors, including crypto customers, for a vote. Should creditors vote in favor, Wiles would have the final word on whether the plan, and the proposed sale, are approved.

The sale to FTX is valued at about $1.4 billion, of which $51 million is in cash. As part of the sale, FTX would move customers on to its platform. Under the payout plan, customers who had digital currencies on Voyager’s platform can be paid in that form once FTX takes over, if FTX supports that type of currency, lawyers told Wiles.

The bankruptcy is Voyager Digital Holdings Inc., 22-10943, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

–With assistance from Yueqi Yang.

(Updates with details on CrossTower plans and hurdles for rival bids.)

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(Bloomberg) — SoftBank Group Corp. appointed an executive committee to oversee its second Vision Fund, Latin America funds and future vehicles, its chairman Masayoshi Son said in a staff memo seen by Bloomberg News. 

Alex Clavel will oversee investing teams in the US and Latin America while Greg Moon will run the teams in Europe and Asia, and Navneet Govil will lead “functional” or non-investment teams such as finance and compliance, Son said. A SoftBank spokesman confirmed the memo’s contents and declined to comment further. 

“I’m more excited than ever about SoftBank’s future,” wrote Son, reiterating his company’s mission to “harness the power of AI to promote a more connected, empowered, and joyful world.” Some $160 billion has been committed to more than 400 companies via SoftBank’s first and second Vision Funds, as well as its Latin America funds. “There is so much upside. All eyes are on us, as the world’s leading tech investor,” Son added.

The move follows a decision by SoftBank Investment Advisers CEO Rajeev Misra to establish a new firm, One Investment Management, and step back from some responsibilities at the Japanese conglomerate. Misra will retain his CEO role, with a primary focus on SoftBank’s first Vision Fund, and will become vice chairman of SB Global Advisers Ltd., which manages Vision Fund 2 and Latin America funds. 

“He has been a key architect of the Vision Funds, he remains an important member of the family, and I am grateful for his continued partnership,” Son wrote. 

Softbank laid off employees within its Vision Fund unit last month, after posting a record $23 billion loss driven by a plunge in the valuations of portfolio companies such as South Korea’s Coupang Inc. and DoorDash Inc. 

Its second Vision Fund has backed companies including WeWork Inc., Qualtrics International Inc. and Exscientia Plc, while its Latam funds have invested in Satellogic Inc. and Banco Inter, among others, filings show. 

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