FTX receives go-ahead to sell its stake in AI startup Anthropic

Collapsed crypto exchange FTX has been cleared to sell its stake in Anthropic which has more than doubled in value since the exchange’s investment. 

United States federal bankruptcy judge John Dorsey approved FTX’s motion to sell its shares in artificial intelligence (AI) firm Anthropic on Feb. 22, marking a new chapter in the exchange’s plans to pay back creditors.

FTX, led by its former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, invested $500 million in Anthropic in 2021, giving the exchange an equity stake of nearly 14%. But subsequent fundraising events by the AI company led to the dilution of FTX’s stake, bringing it to 7.84%.

There was an initial pushback from customers when the crypto exchange announced plans to sell its Anthropic shares, with the argument being that the purchase was made using embezzled customer funds.

However, they agreed that the sale should proceed provided they can later argue that FTX customers own the funds gotten from the sale. FTX’s previous attempt to sell the shares in June 2023 was halted.

Meanwhile, the recent court approval could bring in more funds for FTX, with its Anthropic investment possibly valued at around $1.4 billion. The profit serves as a boost as the company seeks to repay creditors affected by the exchange’s collapse in November 2022. 

“Given the increased interest in AI and large language models, there has been significant appreciation in the value of the Anthropic Shares since the Debtors’ acquisition and investment in Anthropic in 2021.”

Excerpt from FTX’s February filing – Reuters

FTX recently proposed to sell its subsidiary Digital Custody to CoinList for $500,000, significantly less than its initial purchase amount of $10 million.