Following SpaceX's announcement to acquire Cursor at a $60 billion valuation, it has been revealed that FTX's bankruptcy estate sold a 5% stake in the AI coding startup for $200,000 in April 2023, a stake now worth approximately $3 billion. This substantial increase in value underscores one of the largest missed recoveries in crypto history. The deal is part of Elon Musk's efforts to enhance SpaceX's AI coding capabilities, addressing a gap with competitors like OpenAI and Anthropic.
The acquisition is contingent on SpaceX's planned initial public offering, which targets a $2 trillion valuation. The crypto connection arises from Alameda Research's $200,000 investment 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 amount a year later, amid the company's collapse and bankruptcy. The significant disparity between the sale price and the current valuation has sparked debate, particularly from Sam Bankman-Fried, who argues that the estate's rapid liquidation of assets destroyed billions in value. Bankman-Fried's assertion that FTX's estate could have achieved a higher net asset value by holding onto assets instead of selling them during the bankruptcy has gained attention, with the Cursor stake serving as a prime example of the potential upside that was missed.
While FTX customers have received their claim values plus interest, they did not benefit from the substantial increase in value of the assets sold during the bankruptcy, including the $3 billion forgone recovery from the Cursor stake.