SBF’s VC bets could have saved FTX

Sam Bankman-Fried’s venture bets are turning out to be some of the best in crypto, so much so that they could have changed the outcome of FTX and its creditors, going by the portfolio’s nominal value today.

It’s been over three years since FTX filed for bankruptcy, and exactly two years since SBF was sentenced to prison. The once-leading crypto exchange collapsed due to a liquidity crisis driven by the misuse of customer funds to support risky bets at sister firm Alameda Research. 

At the time of bankruptcy, FTX’s total liabilities, mostly customer deposits, were listed at $8-11 billion, against $900 million in liquid assets. A widely referenced spreadsheet listing FTX International’s assets and liabilities by the Financial Times showed FTX had $5.5 billion in “less liquid” assets consisting mostly of tokens, and $3.2bn of illiquid private equity investments.

FTX’s Anthropic stake is now worth $30bn 

SBF reportedly invested in up to 473 companies through FTX and Alameda, including Anthropic, Robinhood, and major cryptos, which have turned out to be great investments today. 

Bankman-Fried’s most outstanding bet was Anthropic. FTX invested $500 million in OpenAI’s rival Anthropic for approximately 8% stake. The whole stake was sold by the bankruptcy lawyers for $1.3 billion, booking over $800 million surplus.

In February, Anthropic raised $30 billion in Series G funding led by GIC and Coatue, valuing the AI company at $380 billion post-money. FTX’s holdings would have been worth $30 billion, more than double the estimated debt owned to the FTX customers. 

Anthropic is just one sample. FTX bets in Solana, Robinhood, among others, also turned out profitable.

FTX/Alameda accumulated over 58 million Solana (SOL) from the Solana Foundation and Solana Labs between August 2020 and May 2021, according to an official blog post by the Foundation. Today, that stash would be worth over $5 billion at the current market price. 

In May 2022, SBF revealed a 7.6% stake in Robinhood Markets Inc (HOOD.O), paying $648 million at the time. That position would be worth $5.12 billion, at the current stock price of $73.64 per share.

But what difference does it make?

None of these results changes anything. The underlying story is that SBF misused and funded most of his VC bets using customers’ money. 

FTX/Alameda is already far buried in bankruptcy. Most of the listed assets have already been liquidated, with reimbursements to affected customers already underway. Cryptopolitan reported Thursday that FTX Recovery Trust has returned over $6 billion to creditors, following a $2.2 billion repayment plan starting on March 31.

Interestingly, SBF has continued to make comments that somewhat imply that the stakes were sold too early or that the bankruptcy proceedings began too quickly. 

In response to a post on the current market value of FTX’s Anthropic stake, Bankman-Fried posted on X, criticizing the lawyers handling the process. “The lawyer who filed FTX for bankruptcy said Anthropic was worth ‘nothing’ and sold the stake for $1.3b,” he wrote. 

“FTX was never bankrupt. I never filed for it,” SBF posted in February. “The lawyers took over the company and 4 hours later they filed a bogus bankruptcy so they could pilfer it for money.”