FTX missed out on $500 million after selling Anysphere's Cursor AI stake for just $200K

Bankrupt FTX has missed out on nearly half a billion dollars in potential profit after liquidating its early stake in Anysphere, the company behind the fast-rising AI code editor Cursor.

The now-defunct crypto exchange, through its trading arm Alameda Research, had invested $200,000 in Anysphere during its 2022 seed round.

However, bankruptcy managers sold the stake for the same amount in 2023, long before the company’s value surged.

FTX’s Anysphere (Cursor AI) Investment Sales. (Source: Gautham Elango)

On April 5, Anysphere completed a funding round that pushed its valuation to $9 billion. The round brought in $900 million and included major investors like Thrive Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and Accel.

In January this year, the company raised $150 million at a $2.5 billion valuation. Since then, Cursor’s user base and revenue have grown rapidly, with the firm reportedly pulling in around $200 million in April alone.

Based on Anysphere’s current valuation, Alameda’s original $200,000 investment would now be worth close to $500 million.

That unrealized gain could have been used to compensate FTX creditors, many of whom are still waiting to recover their lost assets.

FTX’s undervalued sales

Meanwhile, this isn’t the only instance of undervalued sales during FTX’s asset liquidation process.

For context, the bankrupt exchange management had parted with token contracts linked to the SUI blockchain, which could have yielded nearly $3 billion in returns.

Instead of holding the contracts, FTX sold them in March 2024 for just $1 million, well below their current value of around $3 billion. The failed exchange also sold $95 million of Mysten Labs shares alongside its SUI contracts.

Despite these missteps, FTX’s estate has seen better outcomes elsewhere. One example is the $1.4 billion sale of its $500 million stake in AI firm Anthropic Holdings, which brought in significant liquidity.

The proceeds from these asset sales are being used to reimburse creditors. The failed firm completed the first round of repayments in February. The second round, targeting customers with claims over $50,000, is expected to begin later this month.