In April 2023, FTX's estate sold a 5% stake in AI coding startup Cursor for $200,000, a valuation that has skyrocketed to approximately $3 billion following SpaceX's agreement to acquire the company at a $60 billion valuation. This staggering increase has brought attention to the significant losses incurred by FTX's creditors due to the estate's decision to liquidate assets during the bankruptcy process.
The deal has also sparked debate about the estate's handling of assets, with former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried arguing that the estate destroyed billions in value by selling assets too quickly. The Cursor stake's immense growth in value serves as a prime example of the potential upside that FTX customers missed out on, with the estate's decision to sell resulting in a forgone recovery of around $3 billion.