Opinion: FTX customers to be fully reimbursed after Anthropic funding round

The successful closing of Anthropic’s new funding round of no less than $2 billion, no less than $2 billion, will raise the AI startup’s valuation to $20-30 billion and create the basis for a 100% return of funds FTX customers. The news was reported by the FTX 2.0 Coalition.

Anthropic to raise from Google at 20-30B valuation, putting FTX’s stake at 3-4.5B.

FTX customers now stand to be made whole. pic.twitter.com/Vy9mZc8bEl

— FTX 2.0 Coalition (@AFTXcreditor) October 3, 2023

According to the FTX creditors’ coalition, the platform’s stake in the startup could be valued at $3-4.5 billion.

In April 2022, Anthropic closed a Series B funding round on $580 million. It was led by a cryptocurrency exchange.

In a conversation with The Block, lawyer Kunchou Cai from Enlighten, who has helped more than 100 clients file their claims against the platform, confirmed the possibility of such a scenario. In his view, investors in Anthropic should be subject to a lock-up period.

“It remains unclear when management will sell its stake in the startup. Such an option may appear only in the case of IPO, if not provided otherwise. If [Sam Bankman-Fried] invested in Anthropic personally, rather than through FTX, then those who filed suits against him separately may seek priority in payouts”, — explained the expert.

Thomas Braziel, partner at 117 Partners and 507 Capital, specialising in buying claims against bankrupt firms, called this “great news”.

“If liabilities amount to $10 billion, […] and FTX’s investments can be valued at $3 billion, that’s 30 cents. […] It’s absolutely huge. But on paper. People should remember that”, — the expert explained.

According to Cai, the prospect of higher recoveries for FTX customers has allowed some to sell their claims to hedge funds that specialise in such deals.

Anthropic was founded in 2021 by former OpenAI employees Daniela Amodei and Dario Amodei. They were among those who left the company amid internal disagreements, including over cooperation with Microsoft.

In February 2023, media reported Google’s $300 million investment in the startup. In May, Anthropic attracted $450 million. In September, Amazon announced strategic investments in the startup of up to $4 billion.

In a March presentation, representatives of the exchange estimated the total shortfall to cover creditors’ claims at $8.7 billion, of which about $1.6 billion was in Bitcoin. In June 2023, the platform’s current management team said it would return liquid assets worth about $7 billion.

In May, FTX filed a lawsuit against Genesis seeking $3.9 billion back. Subsequently, the amount of claims was reduced to $2 billion. Ultimately, the companies agreed to pay Alameda Research $175 million.

In July, lawyers demanded the return of $71 million from charitable divisions affiliated with the exchange.

In September, the court approved Robinhood’s buyback of its 55 million shares worth $605.7 million, which had previously belonged to the platform’s founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

In the same month, FTX filed suit against LayerZero seeking $86 million back. Later, the platform sought $157.3 million from employees of the Hong Kong subsidiary.