FTX Seeks Court Approval to Sell Anthropic Investment

FTX request which was filed on February 3 involves selling Anthropic Series B Preferred Stock held by Alameda Research.

Following the documents filed with the court on February 3, the defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX requests permission from the court to sell its whole investment in the artificial intelligence company Anthropic.

FTX requested the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware to sell Anthropic Series B Preferred Stock owned by its sister business, Alameda Research.

The motion also included any rights or interests associated with the stock. In April 2022, Sam Bankman-Fried, who had previously served as the CEO of the exchange made an investment of approximately $530M in Anthropic.

This was seven months before the fall of his empire in November of the same year. The evidence shown during the court trial of Bankman-Fried in October 2023 revealed that the funds invested in the artificial intelligence firm originated from deposits made by clients on FTX.

Following the conclusion of Anthropic’s Series B investment round in April 2022, Alameda held roughly 13.56% of the company. The company sold further securities in subsequent investment rounds, reducing Alameda’s interest in Anthropic to 7.84% in January.

In December, Anthropic’s value was estimated at $18 billion, resulting in Alameda’s ownership in the company reaching approximately $1.4 billion.

Additionally, FTX is attempting to reduce the amount of time that is required to consider its sale motion to be decided by the upcoming hearing of the bankruptcy court on February 22.

“The flexibility to adjust the sale timeline will help facilitate such cooperation, including by allowing the Debtors to capture excess demand for Anthropic’s equity securities channeled from any of Anthropic’s financing rounds. Further, given the significant number and value of Anthropic Shares held by the Debtors, the flexibility to sell portions of Anthropic Shares at different times will help the Debtors monetize their interest.”

The disinvestment in Anthropic is a component of the new management measures that FTX is undertaking to recover funds and fully compensate clients.

During a court hearing that took place not too long ago, Andy Dietderich the legal counsel for FTX stated that the exchange had the potential to fully reimburse its users and creditors. He also rejected proposed ideas to relaunch the exchange.