SBF's God-tier Move stands as the biggest regret, perhaps in another timeline FTX didn't rug.

**February 9 –** In 2021, former OpenAI executive Dario Amodei co-founded AI startup Anthropic, directly competing with ChatGPT. The following April (2022), FTX—led by Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF)—announced it was leading Anthropic’s $5.8 billion funding round, contributing $5 billion. At the time, Anthropic was valued at roughly $25 billion, giving FTX an ~13.56% equity stake. Later, FTX’s share was diluted to around 8%—a move SBF funded using client money, aligning with his long-termist views on AI risk. The 2022 bear market delivered the final blow to FTX, triggering its November collapse and bankruptcy. SBF was arrested and later sentenced to 25 years in prison. Fast-forward to 2024: FTX’s bankruptcy team secured court approval to sell its Anthropic shares to repay creditors. Initially, two-thirds of the stake sold to buyers including the Abu Dhabi Sovereign Wealth Fund, netting ~$8.84 billion. After full liquidation, FTX recouped a total of ~$13–14 billion from its Anthropic investment. But the AI frenzy was already in full swing: Anthropic drew frenzied investments from tech giants like Amazon and Google, sending its valuation soaring. Today, Anthropic is in talks for a new funding round with a pre-money valuation of ~$350 billion—set to close as early as this week, with post-money valuation even higher. Tragically, FTX was valued at ~$32 billion at bankruptcy. If it had held onto that ~8% Anthropic stake, it could now be worth $280 billion or more. Without FTX’s collapse, SBF might have emerged as one of the AI era’s newest billionaires. Instead, the stake became a top asset in FTX’s bankruptcy estate, helping repay victims—while SBF, behind bars, missed out on the massive upside.