FTX Cash Pile of $6.4 Billion Set to Jump With Sale of AI Stake

Steven Church, Bloomberg News

(Bloomberg) -- Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX won bankruptcy court approval to sell its shares in artificial intelligence company Anthropic, potentially adding more than $1 billion to the defunct company’s $6.4 billion cash pile.

US Bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey on Thursday said FTX can offload its 8% stake in Anthropic, one of the failed crypto exchange’s most valuable assets.

Late last year, Anthropic was in talks to raise $750 million at a valuation of $18.4 billion, while last week the The Information reported the company raised money at a $15 billion valuation. Either valuation would make the FTX stake worth more than $1 billion.

FTX invested $500 million in Anthropic in 2021, a year before going bankrupt amid allegations of fraud.

FTX creditors, including customers who had money and digital assets on the platform, are likely to be repaid everything they’re owed, company officials have said. FTX has about $6.4 billion in cash, company attorney Andrew Dietderich said in bankruptcy court on Thursday.

FTX filed bankruptcy in November 2022 after founder Sam Bankman-Fried shut down the company’s crypto-trading platform and handed control to insolvency experts. Bankman-Fried was later convicted of fraud.

Restructuring advisers have since been tracking down assets and trying to untangle a complex web of debt.

The case is FTX Trading Ltd., 22-11068, US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.