The FTX (and BlockFi) disaster was bad enough. It cost a lot of people a lot of money. It should've cost an investment 'guru' we won't name his reputation but didn't because unfortunately people forget.

But it went from bad to worse because of how it was handled.

For starters, customers' data and details were stolen pretty much immediately.

If you had even a cent in either FTX or BlockFi, you've probably been receiving dozens of emails a month from about 10-12 different sources and email addresses.

As a result, it became very, very difficult to identify the legit ones and avoid the scammy ones.

Also, if you had even a cent in either FTX or BlockFi, you've probably been receiving literal kilograms of paperwork.

I'm sure there must be legal reasons behind it, but sending thousands (literally, I'm not exaggerating) of pages of unreadable documents in legalese to clients around the world isn't a good use of time, and it isn't a good use of money.

This brings us on to the other elephant in the room, because legal fees were enormous, and those were of course subtracted from the main pot, which means for every dollar they get back, well over half of that goes to lawyers and bureaucrats.

Small creditors - ie, you and I - get pennies on the dollar.

When it all collapsed. I had pennies in FTX but a bit more in BlockFi.

That sucks because what I had in BlockFi is worth more than that now. It's not life-changing money, and it was about 1% of what I have in total, but still.

But when they told me what I was eligible to get back (a three-figure sum) I tried dodging the fake links, finally found the correct one and the process was not easy, it was not straightforward, and it wasn't clear.

First they told me it wasn't successful. And then they told me it was. But no one told how and where and when I'll get my money.

So I just gave up.

But that means I'm gonna lose maybe the equivalent of a plane ticket or two nights at a Los Angeles hotel, which is annoying, but not life-changing.

I can only imagine what that looks like for people who lost thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars.