In April 2023, FTX's bankruptcy estate sold a 5% stake in AI coding startup Cursor for $200,000. Following SpaceX's recent agreement to acquire the company at a $60 billion valuation, that stake would now be worth approximately $3 billion.
This significant increase in value has brought attention to the crypto aspect of the deal, as Alameda Research, founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, initially invested $200,000 in Anysphere, the company behind Cursor, in April 2022. The investment represented a 5% stake in the company at a $4 million valuation. After FTX's collapse, the court-appointed estate sold the Cursor stake for the same $200,000, resulting in a missed recovery of roughly $3 billion. This incident has sparked debate, particularly given Bankman-Fried's arguments that FTX's estate destroyed billions in value by liquidating assets too quickly during the bankruptcy.
The timing of the SpaceX acquisition has also raised questions about the handling of FTX's assets, with some arguing that customers could have benefited from holding onto these assets instead of selling them at a low point in the market. The case of the Cursor stake has become a prime example of the potential value that could have been realized if the estate had adopted a different approach to asset management.