A United States Judge has granted the request of FTX, the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, to sell off its substantial stake in an Artificial Intelligence (AI) startup company, Anthropic, enabling the exchange to accumulate more funds to repay its customers.

FTX To Sell $1 Billion Anthropic Stake

On Thursday, February 22, US bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey in Wilmington, Delaware, approved FTX’s proposal to sell its 7.84% shares in Anthropic, an American AI safety and research company. This decision came after the insolvent crypto exchange filed a motion on February 3 to auction off its Anthropic Series B stock, along with any associated rights or interests.

Earlier in 2021, FTX had made a strategic move, investing over $500 million in Anthropic before the company experienced a staggering surge in value. As the AI company underwent additional fundraising rounds, the company’s initial equity stake of over 13.5% became diluted.

Following Anthropic’s latest funding rounds, the valuation of the start-up company was anticipated to reach $15 billion, elevating the worth of FTX’s stake to over $1 billion. This potential hike in FTX’s shares has prompted the insolvent crypto exchange to strategize selling off its stake, aiming to bolster its fund reserves.

“We are selling the Anthropic shares, as we are selling everything, and putting the money in the bank,” FTX attorney Andy Dietderich stated at a Thursday court hearing.

The collapsed crypto exchange has revealed plans to sell its shares at the most appropriate time, aiming to maximize its stake’s value and allow the company the flexibility to refine its selling strategies. 

Stake Funds Allocated For Creditors

After the successful liquidation of its 7.84% stake in Anthropic, FTX has revealed intentions to allocate the sale proceeds towards repaying all of its creditors. 

In December 2023, the founder of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, was found guilty of fraud and money laundering. The evidence presented during the trial exposed a misappropriation of over $8 billion in customer funds by the former CEO and his associated executives.

Initially, FTX’s creditors had rejected the crypto exchange’s plans to sell its Anthropic stake, asserting that FTX was not the original owner of the shares as it seemed to have acquired the shares with customer funds. However, following FTX’s announcement that it plans to use the sales proceeds to pay back customers, the creditors subsequently relented, approving the sales proposal with the condition that the exchange commits to using it to settle creditors. 

The crypto exchange has indicated that the repayments will be based on the prices of crypto assets during its bankruptcy proceedings over a year ago. During that period, Bitcoin traded slightly above $16,500 in contrast to its current value of $50,964, according to CoinMarketCap.

FTT Token price struggles amid exchange's issues | Source: FTTUSDT on Tradingview.com

Featured image from The Conversation, chart from Tradingview.com