Major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Financial Times and Bloomberg have requested the court ftxto hand over a list containing the names of millions of FTX customers in the U.S. bankruptcy case.
In total, the lists that media outlets are asking for access include the names of some 9 million FTX customers and creditors who lost their money during the exchange. filed for bankruptcy In November last year.
And while transparency in any legal process is generally a good thing, the court’s petition has raised eyebrows in the crypto community, given that customers could become targets for scammers.
The recent proliferation of so-called “pig butcher” scams has raised fears of scammers taking advantage of customer data, also known in Chinese. sha zhu pan,
“Pigging” is one of the most sophisticated types of scams, and involves long-term manipulation to trick the victim into handing over key financial information.
And with the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies, it has become much easier than ever to carry out a large-scale scam.
Customer data is sealed
So far, the bankruptcy court in the FTX case has sealed the list of clients due to the risk posed by scammers.
Now, however, pending a 90-day deadline to renew the seal, major media outlets are eager to release the names, debating the recent Admission that “there is no legal basis for giving crypto users the ability to participate anonymously in bankruptcy proceedings.”
Crypto users are uniquely vulnerable
In the past, FTX representatives in proceedings have argued that crypto users are more vulnerable to scams than other groups of people when their personal information is released.
Representatives also clarified that the rise of AI tools such as ChatGPT makes long-standing scams such as “killing pigs” more efficient, while pointing out that customers Now-Bankrupt Crypto Lender Celsius Have been the target of scammers in the past as well.
Nevertheless, media outlets demanding to see the customer lists argued to the court that crypto users should not receive special protection from public scrutiny.
“Despite these attempted scams, there is no evidence on record that any individual named in the Celsius litigation has been a victim of theft – either of their identity or their crypto assets,” the three media outlets wrote in their filing.