Bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX has obtained approval to divest its shares in the artificial intelligence firm Anthropic, as mandated by U.S. Federal Judge John Dorsey’s order on Thursday.
In 2021, FTX had initially invested $500 million in Anthropic, acquiring a 7.84% stake in the company, as detailed in court documents. Following a compromise reached in court with a group of FTX customers opposing the sale, the Delaware judge has greenlit FTX’s proposal to offload the shares.
About Anthropic: Anthropic, founded by Daniela and Dario Amodei, former employees of OpenAI, has garnered significant attention in the realm of artificial intelligence startups and is reportedly contemplating an IPO.
Following a trajectory akin to OpenAI, Anthropic has amassed $1.6 billion in funding as of August 2023. Notably, it has unveiled Claude 2, a rival to ChatGPT, which is a generative text platform trained through a blend of web-scraped data and human feedback.
Additionally, Anthropic has introduced “Claude Instant,” a swifter and more cost-effective model catering to businesses, featuring constitutional AI aimed at mitigating brand risk.
Valuation Surge: In December, Anthropic is in talks to secure $750 million in a funding round led by Menlo Ventures. If realized, this funding would propel Anthropic’s valuation to $18.4 billion, marking a significant surge from its earlier valuation of $4.1 billion earlier this year.
The surge in valuation has buoyed hopes among victims of the FTX collapse, as the exchange aims to amass adequate funds to fully reimburse all customer and creditor claims.
On February 11, FTX’s debtor estate, led by CEO John Ray III, initiated the sale process of Digital Custody Inc. (DCI) to CoinList. FTX had acquired this subsidiary in two separate transactions, totaling $10 million, in December 2021 and August 2022, respectively, according to Ruholamin Haqshanas of Cryptonews.
The now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX is entangled in a protracted legal dispute that may span several years as creditors seek to recover over $8 billion. This November-filed case involves multiple stakeholders vying for the remaining assets, rendering it more intricate and time-intensive compared to other crypto bankruptcies, noted Alan R. Rosenberg, a partner at Markowitz Ringel Trusty & Hartog.
FTX has expressed its commitment to repaying all creditors and has actively pursued divesting some subsidiaries as part of its ongoing bankruptcy proceedings.
