FTX Sold Too Early: Anthropic Stake Now Implied at Up to $20B

2026-01-09 08:22:38

Source: CoinEdition Original Title: FTX Sold Too Early: Anthropic Stake Now Implied at Up to $20B Original Link:

Anthropic is raising $10B at a $350B valuation, nearly double its price from September.
FTX once owned up to 18% of Anthropic for $500M before forced dilution and sale.
That same stake could be worth $15-20B today if it had not been sold in bankruptcy.

Anthropic is reportedly gearing up for a new funding round that aims to raise about $10 billion at a valuation of roughly $350 billion. The deal is expected to close in the coming weeks, with GIC and Coatue Management leading the round.

In September, Anthropic raised $13 billion at a $183 billion valuation, meaning the new round would nearly double its price. The core product remains Claude, an AI chatbot already backed by Amazon and Google.

The move confirms that large capital is still chasing top-tier AI, even at extreme prices.

FTX’s Old Bet Turns Massive On Paper

FTX bought into Anthropic early using customer funds. Roughly $500 million was used to acquire close to 18% at a $2.5 billion valuation. That stake was later diluted.

By the time FTX sold during bankruptcy, the holding had fallen to about 7.8%. The sale occurred at an estimated $18 billion valuation. Creditors got cash. The upside was gone.

At a $350 billion valuation, even a heavily diluted single-digit stake would be worth between $15 billion and $20 billion.

Bankruptcy Timing Locked In The Loss

FTX had no option but to sell. The estate needed liquidity. The Anthropic stake was one of the cleanest assets to sell.

The timing mattered because the sale happened before the AI trade went vertical. Four months later, the same equity would rank among the most valuable assets ever held by a crypto firm.

This was not a bad entry. It was a bad exit forced by a collapse.

No Pardon, No Second Chance

Sam Bankman-Fried remains in prison with a 25-year sentence. President Donald Trump has publicly said he has no plan to pardon him.

Bankman-Fried has tried to stay visible. He has commented on politics and praised past pardons. None of it seems to appease Trump, who has pardoned figures tied to crypto, like certain head of major exchanges.

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