workers warn over ‘end of Royal Mail as we know it’

Sam Bankman-Fried has issued a mea culpa in a letter apologising to FTX staff for the collapse of his crypt empire.

It comes as US bankruptcy proceedings have revealed that tens of thousands of British traders have been left out of pocket by the implosion of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

Some 8pc of FTX’s users were based in the UK, a Delaware court heard, suggesting that 80,000 Britons may have lost money. FTX left around one million creditors, the vast majority of whom were unsecured users of the exchange.

Matthew Field has the details.

5 things to start your day 

1) FTX collapse leaves 80,000 UK crypto traders out of pocket Some 8pc of FTX’s users were based in the UK, a Delaware court heard, suggesting that 80,000 Britons may have lost money. FTX left around one million creditors, the vast majority of whom were unsecured users of the exchange.

2) Royal Mail sweetens pay offer in 11th-hour bid to avoid Christmas strikes The FTSE 250 company is understood to have offered a 9pc pay rise spread over 18 months, rather than two years, as previously tabled.

3) Twitter to resume hiring after Elon Musk sacks more than 4,000 staff  Mr Musk said that employees were encouraged to make referrals, but he did not specify the roles Twitter was hiring for. The company currently has no open positions listed on its website.

4) RMT announces series of strikes in the run-up to Christmas and New Year Rail passengers will be hit by waves of strikes after talks to avoid festive travel chaos collapsed.

5) Danish Crown to build £100m gammon plant in UK despite Brexit red tape The 30,500 square metre factory, in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, will be completely powered by renewable energy and will create 300 jobs once it is operational.

What happened overnight 

Asian share markets had mostly positive gains on Wednesday despite rising Covid cases in mainland China leaving investors uncertain.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.3pc, after US stocks ended the previous session with gains. The index is up 12pc so far this month.

Australian shares climbed 0.7pc, with most gains coming from mining and resources giants as a result of higher oil prices. 

Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.6pc in early trade.