Will FTX Pay Interest on Your Claim?

One of the more confusing things about the FTX bankruptcy is that the recovery numbers go above 100%. Creditors hear that Class 5A recovers about 96% of allowed amounts, and then they hear a projected total recovery of 118-120%. A claim cannot pay back more than it is worth - unless something is being added on top. That something is interest.

FTX claim interest is the part of the recovery that goes beyond returning your principal. It is also one of the least understood parts of the plan, partly because the headline figures are quoted in different ways in different places.

This guide explains what interest means inside the FTX plan, why the projected recovery exceeds the principal figure, what the Class 7 number includes, and how interest should - and should not - factor into a decision to sell your claim or wait for the Trust.

Why FTX Recovery Numbers Go Above 100%

Start with the two numbers most often quoted. The roughly 96% figure for Class 5A is a principal recovery - it describes how much of the allowed claim amount the Trust is returning through the distributions running in 2026. The projected 118-120% is a total recovery figure, and it is higher than 100% because it includes more than principal.

When a bankruptcy estate recovers more value than it needs to repay every allowed claim in full, the surplus can be applied as interest to creditors. The FTX estate has recovered a large pool of assets - more than $10B has been distributed to creditors since January 2025 - and the plan pays creditors their principal and then interest on top. The projected 118-120% is exactly that: 100% of each claim's petition-date value, plus post-petition interest accruing at 9% per year.

So the gap between roughly 96% and 118-120% is not a contradiction. One number is principal being paid now; the other is the projected end state once interest is included over the full timeline.

What "Interest" Means in the FTX Plan

In a bankruptcy, interest added to a claim after the filing date is generally called post-petition interest. The FTX case was filed on November 11 2022, and recovery is calculated on the petition-date value of each claim. Post-petition interest is the concept of compensating creditors for the time between that date and when they are actually paid.

The FTX plan sets a specific rate for this. Post-petition interest accrues at 9% per annum - the rate the plan refers to as the Consensus Rate - running from the petition date of November 11 2022 through to each distribution date. It is not a vague surplus: it is a defined 9% annual rate applied to your petition-date claim amount across the time you wait to be paid.

For a creditor, the practical takeaway is simpler than the mechanics. Interest is the reason a fully allowed claim can be projected to recover more than its face value, and it is one reason the total recovery figure keeps being quoted above 100%.

The Class 7 Figure: 120% Including Interest

The clearest published example is the Class 7 Convenience class. The recovery figure stated for Class 7 is 120%, and that figure is described as including interest.

That phrasing matters. It tells you the 120% is not 120% of principal plus a separate interest payment on top - the interest is already inside the number. A Class 7 holder reading 120% is reading a total recovery figure with interest already counted.

Class 5B for US customers is stated at 100%. Class 5A is at roughly 96% now and projected toward 118-120% as the 9% interest continues to accrue. The point is not to memorise every percentage but to know that they are not all measuring the same thing.

Interest Accrues Over the Distribution Timeline

Interest is not a lump sum that lands on day one. It builds over the period the bankruptcy stays open, and the FTX distributions are spread across a multi-year timeline. More than $10B has gone out since January 2025; the fourth distribution of around $2.2B closed on March 31 2026; a fifth distribution is scheduled for July 31 2026 (record date June 16 2026); and further distributions follow after that.

Because interest is tied to time, the full projected recovery of 118-120% is not realised until that timeline runs its course. Early distributions return principal first; the portion of the recovery that reflects interest is realised later, as the estate completes its work.

This is why the date you are paid matters as much as the percentage. A higher total recovery figure that includes interest is a figure earned over years of waiting, not a figure available today.

What Interest Means If You Are Deciding Whether to Sell

Here is where interest becomes a practical question rather than a definitional one. If you sell your claim, you are paid an agreed amount now. If you wait, you are in line for the full projected recovery - principal plus the interest component - but only as the Trust completes its distributions.

So interest is real money, and it is a genuine reason the wait-and-hold path can total more than a sale. But it comes with the same conditions as every other part of the recovery. You collect it only if your KYC is cleared, only if your jurisdiction allows the distribution to be received, and only if your claim stays free of dispute. Interest does not accrue any faster because you need the money, and it does not protect a claim that is stuck.

A sale converts the whole package - principal and the interest you would otherwise wait for - into one payment now. For the broader comparison of the two paths, see our guide on selling now versus waiting. For how that choice translates into an actual offer figure, see what an FTX claim is worth in 2026.

How Interest Affects the Offer to Buy Your Claim

A buyer pricing your claim is buying every future distribution attached to it - and that includes the interest component of the projected recovery. The interest does not disappear when a claim is sold; it transfers to the buyer along with the rest of the claim.

That is part of why a clean, fully allowed claim is valued the way it is. The buyer is acquiring a claim projected to recover above 100%, and the offer reflects that projection discounted for the years of waiting and the remaining risk. A claim with an unresolved problem is worth less precisely because the path to that full recovery - interest included - is not yet clear.

For you as the seller, this means interest is not something you forfeit by selling. Its value is built into the offer. What you give up is not the interest itself but the years of waiting required to actually receive it.

Interest Is Not the Same as Crypto Appreciation

One point causes more confusion than any other, so it is worth addressing directly. Interest in the FTX plan is not the same thing as the rise in crypto prices since the bankruptcy began.

FTX recovery is calculated on the petition-date value of each claim - the dollar value as of November 11 2022. If you held assets that have since risen sharply in market price, that appreciation is not part of your recovery. The plan does not pay you the current market value of what you once held; it pays the allowed claim amount fixed at the petition date, and then the interest the plan provides on top of that.

So when you read a recovery figure above 100%, it is interest on the petition-date claim amount - not a crypto gain. This distinction changes how a creditor should think about waiting. The upside of holding is the interest component of the projected 118-120%, a defined figure, not an open-ended bet on crypto markets. A creditor expecting their claim to track the price of a token will be measuring against the wrong number.

What the Plan Confirms About Interest

The terms come from the confirmed FTX plan, so the main points can be stated plainly. Post-petition interest accrues at 9% per annum - the rate the plan calls the Consensus Rate. It runs from the November 11 2022 petition date to each distribution date, which is why a claim paid in a later tranche carries more interest than one paid early.

The interest provisions sit in the plan itself: Article 4.2.1(d) covers Dotcom customer claims, and Article 4.2.2(c) covers US convenience claims. The projected total recovery of 118-120% follows directly from this - 100% of the petition-date claim amount, plus the 9% interest accrued across the distribution timeline.

If interest is central to your decision, treat the 9% rate and the projected 118-120% as the planning figures for the wait-and-hold path, and confirm anything case-specific against the plan documents on the Kroll case page before relying on it.

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