In April 2023, FTX's bankruptcy estate sold a 5% stake in AI coding startup Cursor for $200,000. Following SpaceX's agreement to acquire the company at a $60 billion valuation, that same stake would now be worth approximately $3 billion. This development has brought attention to the significant gap between the original sale price and the current valuation, with the difference representing a substantial missed recovery for FTX's creditors.
The situation has also sparked debate about the handling of FTX's assets during its bankruptcy, with founder Sam Bankman-Fried arguing that the estate's decision to liquidate assets quickly destroyed billions of dollars in potential value. The Cursor stake's remarkable growth, from a $4 million valuation in 2022 to $60 billion today, is among the steepest in software startup history and is likely to feature prominently in discussions about FTX's bankruptcy and the treatment of its assets.