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On August 2 Coindesk reported a hacker stole some $60 million worth of Bitcoin from the Bitfinex exchange. Altcoins such as ETH, ETC, LTC on Bitfinex were not stolen by the hacker.

Source: http://www.coindesk.com/bitfinex-bitcoin-hack-know-dont-know/

Bitfinex decided to “socialize” the losses in what they claim would be similar to a bankruptcy liquidation.

All account holders on Bitfinex at the time of the hack received the newly created BFX tokens equal to roughly 36% of their pre-hack balance in place of the losses.

The tokens were issued at a one token to dollar parity. For crypto currency balances the value was based on prices announced by Bitfinex.

Source: http://blog.bitfinex.com/uncategorized/bitfinex-update/

Interestingly before trading was live the ticker already priced BFX at .80 per token–a 20% discount.

As of writing tokens are trading down around $.36.

But this low price creates an opportunity for the exchange Bitfinex. They could buy their own tokens back at a huge discount and then forgive their own debt.

Debt Buyback: An Example

Let’s say you borrow $100 from your friend Robert. You give Robert a piece of paper promising to pay him back (an “IOU”).

You fall on hard times and Robert is convinced you won’t make good on your promise to pay him back so he decides to cut his losses.

He sells the IOU to Susan for $25. Robert figures $25 is better than $0.

Susan holds the IOU for a little while but then decides she wants the money. She offers to sell the IOU for $30.

You could buy your own IOU back for just $30 and then forgive the debt to yourself.

In other words you’ve just gotten $100 for $30.

See where I’m going with this?

While no one voluntarily loaned money to Bitfinex in exchange for the BFX tokens my hypothetical example above is very similar to the position Bitfinex finds itself.

Bitfinex public relations man Zane Tackett claims they do not buy their own debt on the exchange.

BFX exchange

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinMarkets/comments/4xcrup/bfxcoin_discussion/d6ei72p?context=3

I have no evidence that Bitfinex is buying their own tokens. But there is a strong incentive for them to do so.

BFX Token Losers

From my perspective the tokens are a huge disappointment.

The tokens pay no interest, no dividend, and there is no timeline on when the tokens will be repaid or even if they will ever be repaid.

“However, no property held back will be used to pay dividends to current shareholders unless and until our customers are repaid.” Emphasis Added.

Source: http://blog.bitfinex.com/uncategorized/interim-announcement/

The best people like me who were assigned the token can hope for is Bitfinex will pay the face value back in full as soon as possible.

I don’t see how the BFX tokens will ever be worth $1 or more via trade. If Bitfinex releases a legally binding repayment plan I could see the token value approach $1. For example, if Bitfinex announced BFX tokens would be repaid on 8/14/2016, they might trade up to $.99 per token leading up to the payout for people to make .01 per token in one day.

Why is that the case? Because a rational investor will not voluntarily buy an instrument today for the promise of the same (or less) amount in the future. A rational investor wants to be compensated for the time value of money.

Plus there is a lot of risk that the amount will never be repaid. The BFX tokens are reward-free risk for anyone assigned the token.

It beats just taking the full 36% loss, but falls far short of my hopes for interest, equity, tradability (for US clients) and a set maturity.

Presumably the tokens could be held to “maturity” at which point Bitfinex would buy them back at face value but if maturity is 1 or 100 years from now, tomorrow or never, no one knows.

That could be a long time with no interest which is a big fat loss both in terms of lost opportunities to invest the money elsewhere and purchasing power lost due to price inflation.

BFX Token Winners

As mentioned earlier in this article, if Bitfinex were to buy back their own debt at current token prices they would be saving 64% on their outstanding debt.

Other winners could be risk loving speculators. With the token trading at just $.36 speculators who believe that Bitfinex will buy the tokens at face value could buy BFX tokens at a huge discount.

For example if I could buy BFX tokens for $.36 each and I knew I’d get a dollar for them in a year it’d be a no brainer investment.

Roulette Wheel

Roulette or BFX Token: Which is riskier?

But since their isn’t any interest, no set maturity, and no guarantee if the tokens will ever be repaid, the BFX tokens are little better than putting your money on red at the roulette table.

What is a Bitfinex Client to do?

If you were assigned BFX tokens at face value and you’re a US resident you’ve only got two options. The first is sell the BFX tokens to cut your losses. The second is to hold onto them and hope they go up in value or are repaid.

If you’re not in the US you could double down and buy BFX tokens to decrease your BFX token cost basis, but I think this is super high risk.

I’m still sitting on my BFX tokens to see what happens. At some point I may cut my losses and sell them but I haven’t made a decision yet.

If you feel like gambling and you’re not a US resident you could buy BFX tokens and hope Bitfinex pays them off. But with no set maturity, no guarantee of repayment and no interest it’s certainly not investing.