In April 2023, FTX's estate sold a 5% stake in AI coding startup Cursor for $200,000, a valuation that would now be approximately $3 billion following SpaceX's $60 billion acquisition deal. This revelation comes as SpaceX plans to acquire Cursor, with the option to buy the company later this year for $60 billion or pay $10 billion if the full acquisition does not proceed. The deal is part of Elon Musk's efforts to enhance SpaceX's AI capabilities, particularly in AI coding tools, an area where the company currently lags behind competitors. The acquisition has brought attention to the crypto aspect, as Alameda Research, founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, initially invested $200,000 in Anysphere, the company behind Cursor, in April 2022.
This investment, which bought roughly 5% of the company at a $4 million valuation, was sold by the FTX estate for the same $200,000 after the company's collapse. The significant gap between the sale price and the current valuation of $3 billion represents a 15,000x return, which could have been realized by the creditors if the estate had held onto the stake. This development supports Sam Bankman-Fried's argument that the FTX estate destroyed billions in value by liquidating assets too quickly during the bankruptcy.
Despite FTX customers being repaid in full, they did not receive the upside from the assets' increased value, including the $3 billion from the Cursor stake, which was sold for $200,000.