By Dietrich Knauth

NEW YORK (Reuters) – FTX has abandoned efforts to re-start its crypto exchange, instead opting to liquidate all assets and return funds to customers, a company attorney said on Wednesday.

FTX has been negotiating for months with potential bidders and investors, but none were willing to put in enough money to rebuild the FTX exchange, FTX attorney Andy Dietderich said at a bankruptcy court hearing in Delaware.

The failed negotiations underscored the fact that FTX was never what it appeared to be, and founder Sam Bankman-Fried never built the underlying technology or administration necessary to run the company as a viable business, Dietderich said. Bankman-Fried has been convicted on fraud charges related to his operation of FTX.

“FTX was an irresponsible sham created by a convicted felon,” Dietderich said. “The costs and risks of creating a viable exchange from what Mr. Bankman-Fried left in a dumpster were simply too high.”

(Reporting by Dietrich Knauth; Editing by Bill Berkrot)