Anthropic Stock: Did the US Sell FTX’s Treasure Too Soon?

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At Anthropic's hypothetical valuation of $1.5 trillion, these securities would be worth nearly $3.94 billion. A spectacular gap, but still theoretical: the price of the IPO expected in November has not been announced.

The story begins in 2022, during Anthropic's Series B financing round. Nishad Singh, then technical head of FTX, invested $40 million. Caroline Ellison, who runs Alameda Research, is contributing another $10 million. The purchase price is $11.2261 per share.

After FTX's collapse, both executives plead guilty and testify against Sam Bankman-Fried. Their holdings come under federal control in 2025. The US Marshals Service, responsible in particular for selling assets confiscated in criminal proceedings, is organizing their sale.

The Anthropic document describes the repurchase of 4,453,900 Series B shares, in October 2025, at $140.9676 per unit. This price matches that of its Series F-1 financing round. The company simultaneously resells the securities to nine accredited investors, without drawing any net proceeds from the transaction.

The prospectus does not name the former holders. Business Insider, however, links this block to the two former members of the FTX house: the number of shares corresponds exactly to their cumulative investment of 50 million dollars. The identity of the nine buyers remains unknown.

The comparison with a future listing is dizzying. At a valuation of 1,500 billion dollars, the block sold would represent around 3.94 billion, or some 3.3 billion more than the amount collected by the authorities!

However, this calculation does not constitute either a loss realized for the State nor a profit already received by the buyers. It depends on a hypothetical valuation and does not demonstrate that Washington could have sold all of the securities at this price.

The destination of the funds is specified. A Department of Justice spokesperson confirmed to the press their transfer to the bankruptcy administrators of FTX. The media also reports a total payment of $638 million from the DOJ by the end of 2025, according to court documents. This amount should not be confused with the sale price of the shares alone.

This operation is distinct from the $500 million stake acquired in Anthropic by the FTX empire in 2022. Included in the bankruptcy procedure, this was resold in 2024 for around $1.3 billion.

For victims, the sale transforms an unlisted stake into funds available for repayments. The nine buyers now hold the upside potential of Anthropic, with the market risk that accompanies it. We have clearly not yet finished settling the (cursed) legacy of FTX.

Machine-translated from French