FTX's $200,000 Cursor Stake Now Valued at $3 Billion After SpaceX Acquisition

In a striking turn of events, a 5% stake in AI coding startup Cursor, sold by FTX's bankruptcy estate for $200,000 in April 2023, would now be valued at approximately $3 billion following SpaceX's recent agreement to acquire the company at a $60 billion valuation. This development has brought to light a significant missed recovery in crypto history. SpaceX has announced its intention to purchase Cursor later this year for $60 billion, or pay $10 billion if the full acquisition does not proceed, as part of Elon Musk's strategy to bridge the gap with competitors in AI coding tools.

The deal is pending due to SpaceX's planned initial public offering, which targets a $2 trillion valuation. The crypto connection lies in Alameda Research's $200,000 investment in Anysphere, the company behind Cursor, in April 2022, which garnered a 5% stake at a $4 million valuation. After FTX's collapse, the court-appointed estate sold the stake for the same $200,000, resulting in a staggering 15,000x return that could have been realized by the creditors.

This incident has sparked controversy, particularly given Sam Bankman-Fried's assertions that the FTX estate's rapid asset liquidation during bankruptcy destroyed billions in value, and that customers could have received more than their initial investments if the process had been handled differently. The timing of this revelation is awkward for FTX's bankruptcy administration, as it underscores the potential value that could have been recovered. Bankman-Fried's projections suggest that FTX's net asset value could have reached $78 billion if the estate had retained assets instead of selling them in 2023 and 2024.

The steep trajectory of Cursor's valuation, from its AI coding product launch in 2023 to its current valuation, is among the most remarkable in software startup history. Although FTX customers have been reimbursed in full, they did not receive the upside from the assets' increased value between the bankruptcy filing and the present, including the $3 billion forgone recovery from the Cursor stake.