According to sources, there were several potential buyers interested in acquiring FTX’s stake in the AI company as part of the effort to recover funds for the exchange’s creditors. However, the sale of this exchanges’ $500 million stake in Anthropic has been temporarily halted, which could potentially delay the exchange’s plan to address a $2 billion deficit in its balance sheet.
Reportedly, Parella Weinberg Partners, FTX’s advisory investment bank, decided to pause the sale of stake in Anthropic despite the existence of multiple interested parties.
FTX’s Decision Unveiled: An Explanation Behind the Move
If the stake sale were to proceed, it would significantly contribute to FTX’s financial recovery. A report by this exchange restructuring chief John Ray on June 26 claimed that approximately $8.7 billion of user funds were misused, but around $7 billion has been successfully recovered thus far.
Before the temporary halt, there were reports of several potential buyers expressing interest in acquiring FTX’s share in Anthropic. In early June, it was reported by Semafor that this company was actively presenting the AI company to prospective investors.
During FTX’s bankruptcy in November, the exchange held a stake in Anthropic valued at $500 million, which is now anticipated to have significantly increased in value due to the thriving AI industry.
On May 23, Anthropic achieved a reported valuation of $4.6 billion and successfully raised $450 million in its most recent funding round. One of Anthropic’s offerings is an AI chatbot named “Claude,” which the company claims can be utilized for various purposes such as sales, customer service, and web searches.
At the time of their bankruptcy, their stake in Anthropic represented one of their largest holdings, second only to their reported $1.15 billion investment in crypto mining company Genesis Digital Assets.
The recent news about the suspension of the stake sale coincides with a report released by John Ray, which highlighted the potential misuse of this exchange customer funds. According to Ray’s report, FTX still had approximately $2 billion to recover in order to potentially regain all the assets. The report also exposed alleged “grants” amounting to thousands of dollars given to non-crypto-related projects.
Furthermore, the report shed light on this company’s purported investments in venture capital firms, a Bahamian real estate portfolio worth $243 million, and donations made to non-profit organizations and a political action committee led by Gabe Bankman-Fried, who is the younger brother of FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried.