FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried has stepped down from his role as CEO as the beleaguered cryptocurrency exchange commenced voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S., according to an image of a press release sent from the company's official Twitter account. Bitcoin ( BTC-USD ), in turn, fell to as much as 6.3% to $16.49K on the news, though losses have since been trimmed, now changing hands at roughly $17K at 9:51 a.m. ET. SBF, the CEO and founder of FTX, will remain "to assist in an orderly transition," the release said, adding that John Ray III is succeeding him as the new CEO. FTX Group, which consists of FTX.com, FTX US, Alameda Research and ~130 affiliated entities, have all filed for Chapter 11. Four subsidiaries were not included in the proceedings, including FTX Digital Markets, FTX Australia, FTX Expess Pay and LedgerX. “The FTX Group has valuable assets that can only be effectively administered in an organized, joint process,” Ray said in a statement. “I want to ensure every employee, customer, creditor, contract party, stockholder, investor, governmental authority and other stakeholder that we are going to conduct this effort with diligence, thoroughness and transparency.” FTX did not immediately respond to Seeking Alpha's request for comment. The move comes as formerly prominent FTX.com suffers a liquidity crisis in the face of its multibillion-dollar balance sheet shortfall. Earlier this week, the exchange signed a non-binding deal with rival Binance to sell its non-U.S. business, though the latter pulled out just a day later, citing fund mishandling and regulatory issues. Since then, FTX.com has been scrambling for rescue financing that doesn't appear close to taking effect given its liquidity crunch. Earlier, FTX Meltdown rumbles on: Assets frozen by Bahamas regulator, EU operating license halted .
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