BlockBeats news, on February 9, as early as 2021, former OpenAI executive Dario Amodei co-founded the AI startup Anthropic, directly competing with ChatGPT. The following April, SBF-led FTX announced a lead investment in Anthropic's new round of $580 million in financing, contributing $500 million of it. At that time, Anthropic was valued at about $2.5 billion, and FTX obtained approximately 13.56% equity, which was later diluted to about 8% in subsequent financing rounds. The plot was set at this moment, as SBF, who was enthusiastic about long-termism and AI risks, used customer funds.
The 2022 bear market delivered its final blow in November, when FTX collapsed into bankruptcy, and SBF was later arrested and eventually sentenced to 25 years. By 2024, the FTX bankruptcy management team, in order to repay creditors, received court approval to sell shares in Anthropic. They first sold two-thirds of their holdings to buyers such as the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, cashing out approximately $884 million. After the final liquidation, FTX recovered a total of about $1.3 to $1.4 billion from its investment in Anthropic.
However, the AI craze has arrived, and Anthropic has been heavily and crazily invested in by giants such as Amazon and Google, causing its valuation to soar continuously. Currently, Anthropic is in talks for a new round of financing, with a projected pre-funding valuation of 350 billion U.S. dollars, which could be finalized as early as this week. If the financing is completed, the post-funding valuation will be even higher.
It is regrettable that when FTX went bankrupt, its valuation was about $32 billion, and if that roughly 8% stake had been held on, it might now be worth $28 billion or even more. If FTX had not collapsed, SBF might have become one of the new richest people in the AI era through this investment in Anthropic. Too bad there are no "if"s. After the FTX bankruptcy liquidation, this stake turned out to be the most valuable part of the bankruptcy assets, helping to repay many victims, but SBF himself missed the huge appreciation while in prison.