The bankruptcy estate of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX sold a 5% stake in AI startup Cursor for $200,000 in April 2023. That same stake is now valued at approximately $3 billion following a landmark deal announced this week between Cursor and SpaceX, providing fresh ammunition for incarcerated FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried's argument that the bankruptcy process destroyed billions in potential creditor value.
SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, announced it has secured the right to acquire Cursor for $60 billion later this year. If the full acquisition does not proceed, SpaceX will pay a $10 billion partnership fee. This valuation implies the 5% stake FTX sold would now be worth $3 billion, representing a staggering 15,000x return on the original investment.
The stake originated from a $200,000 investment made by Alameda Research, FTX's affiliated trading firm, in Anysphere (Cursor's parent company) in April 2022. One year later, with FTX in bankruptcy, the court-appointed estate sold the asset for its original cost basis. The buyer, who was not disclosed, captured the immense subsequent upside.
Sam Bankman-Fried, serving a 25-year prison sentence, has consistently argued that the bankruptcy estate liquidated assets too hastily near the market bottom, destroying potential recovery for customers. In February 2026, he shared projections suggesting FTX's net asset value could have reached $78 billion if assets were held through the market recovery, rather than sold in 2023 and 2024. The Cursor deal is now the clearest numerical example supporting his claim.
While FTX creditors have been repaid the dollar value of their claims as of the November 2022 bankruptcy filing date—for example, a Bitcoin claim was repaid based on a $16,800 price—they did not benefit from the subsequent appreciation of the estate's assets. The Cursor stake alone represents about $3 billion in forgone recovery.
Bankman-Fried's parents have publicly campaigned for a pardon, appearing on CNN in March 2026 to argue customers were repaid. However, prediction market Polymarket currently places the odds of a 2026 pardon for SBF at just 5%, with former President Donald Trump having stated he would not grant one.
