Imprisoned cryptocurrency fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried on Wednesday touted his investments in some of the world's most valuable companies, and what the total stake could have been if the fire-sale had not occurred.
‘Many Such Cases’
Bankman-Fried, popularly known as SBF, quoted a post highlighting the pre-seed investment of Alameda Research—the sister company of fallen cryptocurrency exchange FTX—in AI coding tool Cursor. The startup is reportedly close to securing at least $2 billion in fresh capital at a $50 billion pre-money valuation.
Under SBF, FTX and associated companies took stakes in several technology startups, including AI company Anthropic, Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ:HOOD), K5 Global, which had investments in SpaceX and cryptocurrency project Solana (CRYPTO: SOL).
The bankruptcy of FTX led to the company selling off most of these assets. SBF posted an image showing what FTX's top holdings would be worth today if they hadn't been sold. Benzinga couldn’t independently verify these numbers.
SBF’s Missed Profits?
FTX sold its 8% stake in Anthropic in two rounds, generating $1.3 billion for the company. With a reported valuation of $800 billion, today the stake would have translated to $64 billion.
A Business Insider report indicated that Anthropic's valuation may be nearing $1 trillion, which would put an 8% stake at roughly $80 billion—much closer to SBF's claim.
Similarly, FTX is estimated to have an indirect stake of $225 million in SpaceX. Based on the company’s $1.75 trillion IPO valuation, the stake would be worth $2.81 billion today.
The Infamous Saga
However, that's largely irrelevant now. FTX declared bankruptcy, and SBF was sentenced to 25 years in prison for fraud and misappropriation of customer funds, with some customer deposits being used for other investments.
Last month, he filed a request for a new trial, alleging that the Justice Department under Joe Biden threatened key defense witnesses from testifying.
Photo courtesy: Shutterstock
Login to comment