In April 2023, FTX's bankruptcy estate sold a 5% stake in AI coding startup Cursor for $200,000, a valuation that has since skyrocketed to approximately $3 billion following SpaceX's agreement to acquire the company at a $60 billion valuation. This staggering increase in value has brought attention to the significant losses incurred by FTX's estate due to the forced sale of assets during the bankruptcy process. The investment in Cursor was initially made by Alameda Research, a trading firm founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, for $200,000 in April 2022, representing a 5% stake in the company at a $4 million valuation.
However, after FTX's collapse, the court-appointed estate sold the stake for the same $200,000, resulting in a missed recovery of roughly $3 billion. This incident has sparked debate about the handling of FTX's assets during the bankruptcy, with Bankman-Fried arguing that the estate destroyed billions in value by liquidating assets too quickly.
The significant increase in Cursor's valuation is a prime example of the potential value that could have been realized if the estate had held onto its assets instead of selling them at a low point in the market. As a result, FTX customers have missed out on the upside from the assets sold during the bankruptcy, including the substantial increase in value of the Cursor stake.