FTX Sold Cursor Stake for $200,000; Three Years Later It’s Worth $3 Billion

JOON HYOUNG LEE

Summary

The FTX bankruptcy estate sold its 5%% stake in Cursor for $200,000, and that holding has since grown to $3 billion in value.
Alameda Research invested $200,000 in Anysphere, but the bankruptcy estate later sold the stake at roughly its original cost during FTX’s bankruptcy proceedings.
SpaceX announced its acquisition of Cursor, valuing the company at $60 billion, and would have to pay a $10 billion breakup fee if the deal falls through this year.

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FTX, the cryptocurrency exchange that collapsed in 2022, sold a stake in AI coding startup Cursor for $200,000 three years ago. That holding is now worth as much as $3 billion.

CoinDesk reported on April 22 that the FTX bankruptcy estate sold a 5% stake in Anysphere, the developer of Cursor, for $200,000 in April 2023. The value of that stake has since climbed to about $3 billion after SpaceX, the aerospace company led by Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk, decided to acquire Cursor. By simple calculation, the stake’s value surged about 15,000-fold in three years.

The stake was originally held by Alameda Research, an FTX affiliate. Alameda invested $200,000 in Anysphere in April 2022, when the startup was valued at about $4 million. After FTX entered bankruptcy proceedings, the court-appointed estate sold the holding for roughly its original cost.

SpaceX announced this week that it would acquire Cursor, valuing the company at $60 billion. If the deal is not completed by year-end, SpaceX must pay a $10 billion breakup fee.

The development could revive claims made by former FTX Chief Executive Officer Sam Bankman-Fried. Bankman-Fried, who is serving a prison sentence, has argued that the FTX bankruptcy estate sold assets too quickly and wiped out potential value worth billions of dollars.