Judge Approves FTX Proposal to Sell Stake in Anthropic

A U.S. judge has approved bankrupt crypto exchange FTX’s proposal to sell its shares in artificial intelligence (AI) startup Anthropic.

The exchange had invested $500 million in Anthropic in 2021, giving it a 13.56% equity stake, which has since been diluted to 7.84% due to fundraising, Reuters reported Thursday (Feb. 22).

Despite facing opposition from some customers who claimed the shares were purchased with embezzled funds, FTX plans to sell the shares to repay customers who lost access to their accounts when the company collapsed in 2022, according to the report.

FTX expects to make a profit from the sale and has $6.4 billion in cash to repay customers an amount calculated based on cryptocurrency prices from November 2022, the report said.

The crypto exchange’s founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, was found guilty of stealing billions from customers and is set to be sentenced on March 28, per the report.

Despite the controversy, FTX plans to pay all customers in full and retain flexibility in selling its shares at the most optimal time, according to the report.

The planned sale of the Anthropic shares is part of a court-supervised effort by FTX to liquidate assets and reimburse customers, the report said.

“Given the increased interest in AI and large language models, there has been a significant appreciation in the value of the Anthropic shares since the debtors’ acquisition and investment in Anthropic in 2021,” FTX wrote in a court filing, per the report.

It was reported in January that FTX has also been selling crypto assets and stockpiling cash as it looks to repay customers. At the time of that report, customer accounts were rising in value, with customer claims worth upwards of $1 million trading at around 73 cents on the dollar, compared to 38 cents on the dollar in October.

As for Anthropic, it was reported in December that the firm was in talks to raise $750 million. The AI startup’s valuation before that reported round was $18.4 billion.

Many companies have been pouring money into Anthropic at a time when investors and business leaders alike are embracing AI.