U.S. prosecutors opened probe of FTX months before its collapse

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan had been monitoring the cryptocurrency exchange FTX for months before to its collapse, according to a story by Bloomberg News on Monday, which relied on people familiar with the inquiry.

The article also stated that the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York spent months working on a thorough investigation of cryptocurrency platforms with U.S. and foreign subsidiaries, including the sizable exchange activities of FTX.

Requests for comment from Reuters were not immediately answered by FTX or the involved U.S. Attorney's Office.

The collapse of FTX sent shockwaves through the sector, limiting liquidity at businesses exposed to one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world at the time, and sparking regulatory inquiries in a number of nations. After FTX described a "serious liquidity issue," it has increased concerns about the future of the cryptocurrency industry.

Following a potential takeover by rival exchange Binance, FTX filed for bankruptcy earlier this month, and its founder Sam Bankman-Fried stepped down as CEO.

Since the FTX collapse, a number of cryptocurrency companies have been preparing for the impact, with several of them estimating their exposure to the troubled exchange to be in the millions.