The bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX has suddenly stopped selling his highly prized asset: his stake in the artificial intelligence startup Anthropic.
This abrupt decision introduces potential delays in addressing the remaining $2 billion shortfall on FTX’s balance sheet as sales of the $500 million stake have been suspended.
Despite interest from multiple parties interested in purchasing FTX’s stake, FTX’s advisory investment bank, Parella Weinberg Partners, opted to pause the sale of FTX’s stake in Anthropic this month.
FTX is poised to make a significant monetary recovery through the sale of its stake. A June 26 report from FTX head of restructuring John Ray revealed that an estimated $8.7 billion in user funds had been embezzled. Of that, about $7 billion has already been successfully recovered.
FTX’s ‘Clawback’ affected by Anthropic sales stop
In January, a federal judge presiding over the FTX bankruptcy case authorized FTX to proceed with the sale of certain assets to repay its creditors. At the time of FTX’s bankruptcy filing in November, the company owned $500 million worth of Anthropic stock.
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However, due to the ongoing AI boom, the value of this stock is expected to have increased significantly since then. FTX also divested other assets. These include the derivatives trading platform LedgerX, which was sold for $50 million.
This sale resulted in a significant loss compared to the $300 million FTX initially paid for LedgerX in 2021. The sale of Anthropic’s stock was part of its strategy to recover and allocate cash to repay creditors . This process is commonly known as a “clawback.”
Clawback refers to a legal proceeding, and in the context of a bankruptcy, the trustee, in the case of FTX Perella Weinberg Partners, attempts to recover property or payments made by the company prior to filing for bankruptcy.
In November, FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as a legal remedy. About a month later, FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried faced a series of federal charges. These charges include money laundering, fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
In recently filed court filings with the United States Bankruptcy Court of Delaware, former FTX executives, including Sam Bankman-Fried, are accused of interfering more than $402 million in client funds. Reportedly, this move was conducted under the direction of Bankman-Fried and other senior FTX executives.
Second highest bet was in Anthropic
At the time of FTX’s bankruptcy, his interest in the AI company was one of the important holdings. FTX’s stake in AI came just behind its reported $1.15 billion investment in cryptocurrency miner, Genesis Digital Assets.
Anthropic was founded in 2021 by former OpenAI employees. It created a stir in the AI industry with the launch of its platform, Claude AI, in March. The company received a lot of attention and support and managed to secure a $ 400 million investment from Google earlier this year.
In May, Anthropic secured $450 million in Series C funding. Spark Capital played a key role in leading the funding round, demonstrating their confidence in Anthropic’s vision and potential.
The financing round in particular also saw participation from many prominent investors. Google, Salesforce Ventures, Sound Ventures, and Zoom Ventures were among the notable entities.
Featured image of The New Republic, chart from TradingView.com
