Business
March 17, 2026
When the Anthropic valuation 2026 hit $380 billion after the latest $30 billion funding round, according to the official press release, the focus has suddenly shifted to the FTX Anthropic stake.
A Reuters report from 2024 confirms that FTX invested $500 million in Anthropic in 2021, which, during the FTX bankruptcy sale in 2024, was sold at $1.3 billion. The same stake would have been worth $30 billion after the Anthropic $380B valuation.
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The Same Stake FTX Sold for $1.3B Is Worth Over $30B Just One Year Later
In 2024, FTX sold its 7.84% stake in Anthropic to stabilize the bankruptcy process. While the valuation seemed reasonable at the time, given the market conditions and the urgency, the picture has completely changed.
The numbers tell a striking story. First, they highlight how initial investments in AI have exploded and have an exponentially higher value. From $500 million in 2021 to $30 billion in 2026, that’s a massive return on investment.
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But it also tells us another story, one of the FTX creditors’ loss. At the time of the FTX bankruptcy sale, the company, in a bid to quickly liquidate its assets, sold off a part of what’s now one of the biggest names in the AI space.
This begs the question, did FTX creditors receive less than what they would have had the FTX Anthropic stake been held longer? While the sale did help streamline the bankruptcy process, the cost of it now appears enormous.
For now, we will have to see how the Pentagon feud affects Anthropic’s valuation. But even at its current $380 billion evaluation, Anthropic has become one of the leading companies in the space.
The FTX-Anthropic episode is a powerful reminder of how quickly the AI landscape is evolving, and how costly it can be to exit early.
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