US Court Approves Sale Of Anthropic AI Startup Shares By FTX Crypto Exchange

JAKARTA - US Bankruptcy Court Judge John Dorsey approved FTX's proposal to sell its shares in the intelligence startup made by Anthropic on Thursday 22 February. This decision was taken after FTX reached an agreement with a group of customers who had previously opposed the sale.

FTX invested USD 500 million (IDR 7.8 trillion) in Anthropic in 2021 and currently holds 7.84% of the company's shares. They plan to sell the shares as part of asset and payment liquidation efforts to customers who lost their funds when FTX went bankrupt in 2022.

"We sell Anthropic shares, like we do with all the other assets, and store their money in the bank," said FTX lawyer Andy Dietderich,

FTX estimates it will sell the shares with profits and have the flexibility to sell them at "the most optimal and precise time".

Anthropic's share value has increased since FTX's investment in 2021, mainly due to interest in artificial intelligence and large language models. However, FTX's ownership was diluted due to Anthropic's subsequent fundraising, including Amazon's $4 billion investment.

Previously, a group of customers opposed sales on the grounds that Anthropic's share ownership was invalid because it was bought using embezzlement proceeds from customers. However, they finally agreed that sales would continue with the condition that they could claim ownership of the profits from the sale in the future.

Dietderich confirmed that FTX intends to use the proceeds of the sale to pay off customers and has enough money to pay a certain group of customers who can prove Anthropic's share ownership. Currently, FTX has cash amounting to US$6.4 billion (Rp100.1 trillion).

FTX plans to pay off all customers in full, although its calculations will be based on the cryptocurrency price in November 2022 (when FTX goes bankrupt) and not the current higher value of crypto assets.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was found guilty of billions of dollars in theft from customers on November 2, 2023 in one of the largest financial fraud cases ever. The Bankman-Fried verdict hearing will be held on March 28 and he is expected to file an appeal.