FTX Sold Its Cursor Stake for $200K in 2023; at SpaceX’s $60B Offer It Would Be Worth $3B

In April 2022, Alameda Research — the trading arm of now-collapsed crypto exchange FTX — invested $200,000 in Anysphere, the parent company of AI coding tool Cursor, buying roughly 5% at a $4 million valuation. After FTX's November 2022 collapse, the court-appointed bankruptcy estate sold that Cursor stake in 2023 for the same $200,000 Alameda paid — effectively at cost, with no gain. The buyer's identity was not disclosed.

What it would be worth today

In April 2026, SpaceX offered $60 billion to acquire Cursor. At that valuation, the original 5% stake would be worth roughly $3 billion — a 15,000× return that accrued entirely to whoever bought it out of the bankruptcy estate, not to FTX creditors.

Creditor backlash

The revelation has become a flashpoint for FTX creditors, sharpening criticism that bankruptcy administrators sold venture assets too quickly and too cheaply in the scramble to liquidate Alameda's book. Remaining details on buyer identity and the timing of other venture sales were not disclosed.

Why it matters

The Cursor footnote captures a structural feature of crypto bankruptcies: illiquid private-company positions tend to be marked to conservative ranges and sold at floor values, which works against creditor recovery whenever the underlying company later re-rates sharply — as AI coding tools have since 2023.

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