Backpack Exchange started off a formal procedure to help former FTX EU clients recover their funds. The company launched a claims process on April 1, 2025, to help return assets to affected users.

The firm posted a link on X that former FTX EU customers can use to identify themselves. Former customers must complete a know-your-customer (KYC) to initiate the process of recovering any lost funds.

Backpack Exchange rescues FTX EU, aims to expedite customer payouts

Once one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, FTX collapsed in November 2022, leaving millions of users unable to access their funds. The company collapsed amid a liquidity crisis and fraud allegations.

The news uncovered that Alameda Research, a closely related trading company to FTX, had invested billions of dollars of client funds in dubious investments. As clients flocked to withdraw their cash, FTX had insufficient funds to accommodate the demands, sending investors into chaos and the company’s swift downfall.

FTX and Alameda Research collapsed on November 11, 2022. Further investigations indicated that FTX’s founder and chief executive, Sam Bankman-Fried, had diverted customer deposits. He was charged and convicted of fraud and conspiracy.

The European subsidiary, FTX EU, was also impacted. Even with the stricter European oversight, customer assets in the broader FTX bankruptcy were trapped. FTX EU was purchased in January 2025 by Backpack Exchange, a regulated global cryptocurrency platform founded by ex-FTX and Alameda Research staff.

The FTX bankruptcy court and the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) gave the acquisition the green light, allowing Backpack to scale its services throughout Europe. As part of the acquisition, Backpack would have handled the distribution of court-eventually approved bankruptcy claims to FTX EU customers, with a target to speed up the restitution process.

Backpack Exchange has structured a claims process to facilitate customer restitution

Backpack Exchange has created a simple process to recover funds for the affected FTX EU clients. 

The process starts with identity verification, requiring users to utilize a responsive verification system. The step is live and can be accessed via Backpack’s official claims page.

Users who have successfully passed the verification process can then withdraw their funds. Backpack will share instructions as soon as the withdrawal phase goes live

CEO Armani Ferrante stated that this is a significant effort and reaffirmed restitution to customers as a central element of building trust and confidence across the industry. 

Backpack Exchange has also made extensive support accessible across supported channels to assist users in recovery.

The community is reacting and sharing feedback on social media

The request for the asset recovery process brought different views within the crypto ecosystem. Responses from users on the social media platform have been optimistic and sceptical. “It’s been a really long road for us,” one user posted. Another said, “This is the minimum they could do after all of this time. I hope it will not take long.” Another one stated.

The structured claims process is a great step in the right direction to re-attach FTX EU customers’ funds to the company while the company is now where it needed to be from the beginning, in the customer’s hands. 

As the Backpack Exchange aims to rebalance, however, the gaze of the cryptocurrency community will fall on them to secure their trust for good.

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Elon Musk claimed at a rally in Wisconsin that President Joe Biden let millions of noncitizens collect Social Security numbers during his time in office. Elon brought charts, handed out $1 million checks, and used a packed town hall to accuse Biden of funneling taxpayer funds into what he called a broken system.

The rally happened just a day and a half before polls opened in a high-stakes state judicial election. The event grabbed national attention after Elon gave the money to two Wisconsin voters who signed a petition against “activist judges.” That petition followed a ruling from the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which refused to hear a case saying the giveaway was illegal.

After the checks, Elon brought up his DOGE associate Antonio Gracias to talk about what they uncovered inside the Social Security Administration. Behind them, a large slide appeared with the words “New Non-Citizen Social Security Numbers Issued.” Antonio explained what it meant.

“We started at the top of the system, mapping the whole system of Social Security to understand where all the fraud was,” Antonio said during the event. “But this is what jumped out at us. When we saw these numbers, we were like, ‘What is this?’”

Antonio said that between fiscal year 2021 and fiscal year 2025, noncitizens were issued Social Security numbers in growing numbers. In fiscal year 2024 alone, more than 2 million received them. The year before that, and even in fiscal year 2025 which began in October and runs through this September, the number was around 1 million each year.

“This literally blew us away,” Antonio said. “We went there to find fraud and we found this by accident.”

Elon’s Social Security overhaul may slow checks and support

Jason Fichtner, who served as deputy commissioner of the Social Security Administration under President George W. Bush, said things are getting risky. “Now I’m concerned that benefits could get disrupted,” he said. Jason said these new updates aren’t small tweaks—they could block people from getting help at all.

Jason joined Kathleen Romig, another former SSA official and now director of Social Security and disability policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, in a public op-ed. They wrote that 7,000 workers have been removed from the SSA, and six regional offices have been shut down.

That means fewer people to help, longer lines at field offices, and more bugs on the official SSA website. The phone line? It already had long waits before the layoffs. Now it’s worse.

Kathleen and Jason said this mess could hit people with disabilities hardest. Delays could leave them waiting so long they die before getting the money they’re owed. “The Social Security Administration is in crisis, and people’s benefits are at risk,” they wrote.

Jason also spoke about DOGE’s plan to wipe out COBOL, the old programming language that runs millions of lines of SSA code. DOGE wants to rebuild the entire system in a few months. Jason said that’s reckless. “If you start messing with the system’s code, that could impact those who are currently getting benefits now,” he said.

Normally, a change like that would take years. It would start with one state, then move out slowly to other regions. Jason said DOGE isn’t doing that. Instead, they’re forcing everything through in a tight window, with no time for test runs or slow rollouts.

Jason said he wasn’t too worried at first. He knew there were service delays, but he didn’t think people’s monthly checks were at risk. But now, with this COBOL plan moving full speed, he said it’s a whole new problem.

The Social Security Administration responded by email saying, “There is no validity to these reports.” The White House used the same exact words too, oddly enough.

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