$200K to $3B: Cursor deal fuels Sam Bankman-Fried’s argument against FTX liquidation
Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) previously argued that FTX could have recovered value if assets were given time to recover, and now he has received fresh proof of that claim in the form of SpaceX’s multi-billion-dollar deal with Cursor.
A 5% stake in the AI startup Cursor cost $200,000 in 2023, but now, following a new $60 billion deal with SpaceX, the same 5% stake is worth $3 billion.
How much did FTX sell its Cursor stake for?
In April 2022, Alameda Research, the trading firm founded by Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), invested $200,000 in Anysphere, the company behind the AI coding tool Cursor. That investment bought them about 5% of the company.
Fast forward one year, and FTX had collapsed, and the bankruptcy court was in control of the company. In April 2023, the FTX bankruptcy estate sold that 5% stake for the same amount Alameda had paid a year earlier: $200,000.
However, SpaceX announced a major partnership with Cursor today. Under the deal, SpaceX has an option to buy the entire company for $60 billion; if they choose not to, they will pay $10 billion for the partnership.
Based on that $60 billion valuation, the 5% stake that FTX sold for $200,000 would now be worth about $3 billion, representing a 15,000x return.
Why does this matter for the incarcerated SBF?
Sam Bankman-Fried is currently in prison but remains active on social media. He has been fighting for a pardon, arguing that FTX was not truly insolvent and that the bankruptcy lawyers destroyed value by selling assets too quickly.
In February 2026, SBF shared a chart suggesting FTX could have reached a net asset value of $78 billion after asset prices recovered if the company had not been forced into bankruptcy.
Crypto lawyer John Deaton dismissed those claims at the time, saying projected values do not change the fact that customers lost money, and that the court had already ruled on the case.
Now, with the Cursor deal, it is hard to agree that the lawyers maximized value three years ago.
SBF’s parents have also been active in pushing for a pardon, appearing on CNN earlier this year in March to argue that FTX customers got their money back.
Creditors pointed out that the repayments are based on 2022 prices, not current market values. A customer who had one Bitcoin got paid based on Bitcoin’s $16,800 price in November 2022.
Odds of a pardon for SBF have dropped to 5% on Polymarket. Source: Polymarket
President Trump has said he will not pardon SBF, and prediction markets currently put the chance of a 2026 pardon at only 5%, but SBF seems determined to keep pushing his version of events regardless.