The surge of cryptocurrency on Wednesday puts into high-relief the possibility that the bankruptcy proceedings against the convicted mogul Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange failed to properly comprehend the wealth that he amassed before his empire crashed.

The value of the most popular cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, jumped by more than 1 percent on Wednesday, to $98,500, eventually reaching a local daily high of $99,400. The value of the second-largest cryptocoin, Ethereum, also jumped. 

Even as the cryptocurrencies on which Bankman-Fried built his fortune gained value, Senator Kennedy asked President-elect Trump’s nominee for attorney general, Pam Bondi, if she recalled the fallen mogul. The senator ventured that Bankman-Fried “would go to meetings with serious people like Bill Clinton, like Tony Blair, looking like a slob. Looking like a fourth runner-up in a John Belushi look-alike contest. And he thought it was cute.”

Ms. Bondi reflected that it was the Department of Justice that secured the convictions that sent Bankman-Fried to prison. That could suggest there is little enthusiasm on behalf of the incoming administration to issue Bankman-Fried a presidential pardon. Even Trump’s nominee to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, Paul Atkins, appeared to suggest that regulations rather than perfidy was responsible for FTX’s implosion. 

The rising value of cryptocurrency comes as the bankruptcy plan for FTX, which once was valued at tens of billions of dollars, is set to go live. It also unfolds against the backdrop of Bankman-Fried’s appeal of his seven federal criminal convictions for fraud and other crimes in the Southern District of New York — and a 25-year prison sentence without the possibility of parole. A jury determined that he committed crimes by commingling funds between FTX and another investment firm he controlled, Alameda Research. 

Bankman-Fried’s lawyers write that their client “was never presumed innocent. He was presumed guilty — before he was even charged. He was presumed guilty by the media. He was presumed guilty by the FTX debtor estate and its lawyers. He was presumed guilty by federal prosecutors eager for quick headlines. And he was presumed guilty by the judge who presided over his trial.”

Bankman-Fried’s case for a new trial before a new judge partially rests on his contention that FTX’s assets “were always sufficient” to “make customers whole,” an argument that the presiding judge, Lewis Kaplan, precluded him from making. Bankman-Fried argues that FTX’s “late 2022 collapse was a liquidity — not a solvency — crisis spurred by rapid customer withdrawals.”

A different story is told by FTX’s current chief executive officer, John Ray, who seized control of the troubled exchange after Bankman-Fried signed away the business he founded at the advice of his lawyers. He explained in a court document: “Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information as occurred here.”

Mr. Ray immediately commenced bankruptcy proceedings — and began cooperating with prosecutors. An amicus brief filed on behalf of Bankman-Fried, though, insists that FTX’s law firm, Sullivan & Cromwell, “played a pivotal and problematic role in inducing the bankruptcy — and then in leading the bankruptcy estate’s support for Bankman-Fried’s prosecution.”

Sullivan & Cromwell was cleared of any wrongdoing by a federal bankruptcy examiner appointed by the Department of Justice. The firm declared in a statement earlier this month that its work cleared “the way for FTX to return to all non-governmental creditors substantially more than 100 percent of the amount normally due under the Bankruptcy Code.” More than $16 billion is set to be repaid, with those who lost less than $50,000 first in line for reimbursement. 

The reimbursements, though, will be pegged to the value FTX’s assets possessed when the bankruptcy commenced, years ago. Take the cryptotoken Solana, which Bankman-Fried hoarded before FTX collapsed. It was then worth less than $10. Today, Solana is worth $188. Then there is Bitcoin, which is worth more than 250 percent more today than it was when FTX went bankrupt.