The catastrophic collapse of the FTX exchange in November 2022 not only triggered a market-wide crisis but also vaporized a potential investment portfolio that could be worth over $50 billion today, according to recent valuations and analysis. The failure stemmed from a fatal mismatch between FTX's long-term, illiquid assets and the immediate liquidity demands of its customers.
Sam Bankman-Fried's portfolio, as of November 2022, included remarkably prescient investments. He held an 8% stake in AI firm Anthropic, acquired in 2021 for roughly $500 million. Following a recent capital raise valuing Anthropic at $380 billion, that stake would now be worth approximately $30.4 billion. The portfolio also contained 58 million Solana (SOL) tokens, valued at around $10.4 billion with SOL trading near $180, and a 7.6% stake in Robinhood, worth about $3.8 billion based on its market cap. Additional private positions, including a stake in SpaceX via K5 Global, could add at least $5 billion, bringing the total potential value to around $50 billion.
The crisis unfolded rapidly over 72 hours. Pressure began on November 2, 2022, with a CoinDesk report on Alameda Research's balance sheet. On November 6, Binance CEO Changpeng 'CZ' Zhao announced plans to sell FTT holdings, triggering a surge in withdrawal requests totaling about $6 billion within two days. By November 8, FTX halted withdrawals, filed for bankruptcy on November 11, and Bankman-Fried resigned.
The core issue was liquidity. FTX's balance sheet was loaded with assets that could not be quickly converted to cash to meet the bank run. The 8% stake in Anthropic could not be sold in a day, and offloading 58 million SOL tokens would have cratered the market price. Court filings show FTX later sold the Anthropic shares for about $1.3 billion—a fraction of their current potential value—and sold SOL tokens near $64 each. Total recoveries for creditors are estimated at roughly $18 billion, starkly contrasting with the $50+ billion the intact portfolio might have been worth.
In a separate but related case highlighting crypto fraud, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the sentencing of Ramil Ventura Palafox, CEO of Praetorian Group International (PGI), to 20 years in prison. Palafox operated a $200 million Bitcoin-based Ponzi scheme from December 2019 to October 2021, defrauding over 90,000 investors. The scheme involved at least 8,198 BTC (worth ~$171.5 million then) and over $30 million in fiat. Investor losses exceeded $62 million, with Palafox spending millions on luxury cars, real estate, and designer goods. The U.S. SEC had charged him in April 2025.
