Written by: Lin Bai, Crow Intelligent Talk
Last week, Anthropic announced the completion of a $13 billion Series F funding round, with its valuation skyrocketing to $183 billion.
As soon as the news broke, netizens immediately thought of a name—SBF. Some lamented that if he hadn't "run into trouble," this investment might have directly ranked among the "top five best investments in history."
Who is SBF? A post-90s individual who rose to fame through cryptocurrency. In just three years, he transformed from an unknown figure to the king of the crypto world, with a peak net worth of $26 billion, firmly placing him in the Top 50 of America's wealthiest individuals.
In 2021, when AI was not nearly as popular as it is today, SBF suddenly entered the AI arena, pulling out $500 million to invest in Anthropic, directly acquiring an 8% stake.
In today's context, this is the legendary story that Silicon Valley loves to boast about: "A genius youth, betting on the future."
Unfortunately, fate has a penchant for dark humor. In 2022, the very year AI exploded, SBF's empire collapsed. All assets, including the stake in Anthropic, were liquidated by the clearing team, ultimately fetching only $1.4 billion.
If he had held onto it until now, based on Anthropic's latest valuation, that 8% stake would be worth approximately $14.6 billion (considering equity dilution, it may not be that much), even ten times more than the selling price.
This is the absurd drama of SBF. A post-90s crypto fanatic who almost turned other people's money into a legendary investment that could go down in history. Unfortunately, before becoming a legend, he became a cautionary tale.
$500 Million, Heavily Investing in Anthropic
You may not have heard of Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), but in the crypto world, he is nothing short of a legend.
He was the owner of FTX, the world's third-largest exchange at the time, with the company's valuation soaring to $32 billion; he also controlled the hedge fund Alameda Research, which had assets peaking at $14.6 billion.
At his peak, SBF's net worth reached 41st on the Forbes list of America's billionaires, standing shoulder to shoulder with Silicon Valley tech giants.
If FTX is seen as a "digital asset bank," then Alameda resembles a "fund that both invests and trades cryptocurrencies." On one hand, it helps clients build cryptocurrency investment portfolios, while on the other, it uses its own funds for venture capital.
From 2021 to 2022, SBF suddenly shifted his focus from virtual currencies to the real world. He directly instructed Alameda to borrow money and began a large-scale venture capital play, pouring funds into non-crypto sectors—essentially betting on the future and diversifying his risks. Among these bets, Anthropic stood out.
In 2021, SBF made a bold move, leading Alameda to invest in Anthropic's Series B funding round. In that round, Anthropic raised a total of $580 million, with Alameda contributing $500 million, acquiring nearly 8% of the shares.
At that time, ChatGPT had not yet gone mainstream, and AI was far from being as hot as it is today. SBF's actions seemed like a gamble on the future to outsiders.
Even more intriguingly, this investment carried a hint of "idealism."
SBF considered himself a believer in effective altruism (EA). The logic of EA is that doing good cannot rely solely on goodwill but should focus on the return on investment. In simple terms, it means using the same amount of money to save more people and create greater social value.
Anthropic's positioning as a "safety-first" large model lab, researching how to reduce AI risks, resonated perfectly with the EA community's philosophy. Additionally, one of the early investors was Jaan Tallinn, a co-founder of Skype and a prominent figure in the EA circle, making the investment appear both idealistic and capitalistic.
Thus, SBF led Alameda to invest $500 million, helping Anthropic build a vast computing and research facility.
"Underselling" Anthropic, Making an $800 Million Profit
If the story ended here, it would be a tale of "the crypto genius betting correctly on the future."
But fate loves to play tricks. In November 2022, crypto media CoinDesk revealed Alameda's financial statements, directly uncovering the secrets of the house of cards:
Of the $14.6 billion in assets, one-third was FTT (the token issued by FTX).
What does this mean? Alameda acquired FTT at a low price, then inflated its market value by hoarding the token, using these tokens as collateral to borrow money from FTX, and subsequently using the borrowed funds for high-leverage investments, creating an internal cycle of funds.
Once the revelation hit, the market went into a frenzy, selling off FTT, leading to the collapse of Alameda and FTX, and SBF's empire crumbled in an instant.
As the liquidation phase began, the primary asset that FTX's creditors focused on was the stake in Anthropic. In 2023, with Google and Amazon entering the fray, Anthropic's valuation soared, becoming the "golden chip" in FTX's asset portfolio.
The demand for Anthropic even affected the sale of this stake. Due to the overwhelming number of buyers and lengthy due diligence, the sale of the shares was temporarily paused.
By 2024, FTX finally sold the Anthropic shares in two batches:
In the first sale, two-thirds were sold, bringing in $884 million. It was reported that 24 institutional investors participated in the subscription, sharing these shares. The largest buyer was a sovereign fund from Abu Dhabi.
In the second sale, FTX sold the remaining approximately one-third of its holdings (about 15 million shares), bringing in $450 million, completely liquidating its stake in Anthropic.
In other words, the FTX liquidation team recovered nearly $1.4 billion through the sale of Anthropic shares, almost three times what SBF initially invested.
Ironically, if these shares had been held until September 2025, during Anthropic's latest funding round (post-money valuation of $183 billion), the theoretical value of that 8% stake could have reached $14.6 billion, yielding a profit of $14 billion. But in reality, the money had long since turned into "lifesaving food" in the liquidation fund.
Even more dramatically, this investment later became part of SBF's trial.
SBF's defense attorney emphasized: SBF was not just a reckless spender; he invested in a company that later saw its valuation skyrocket, demonstrating his foresight and business acumen.
However, the prosecution directly countered this statement:
SBF's money was not clean capital; it was "moved" from FTX customers' pockets; even if it appeared profitable on paper, it could not wash away the original sin of financial fraud, nor could "intentional misappropriation" be packaged as "investment mistakes."
Ultimately, in October 2023, U.S. prosecutors submitted a motion stating:
"The defendant used customer funds to invest in Anthropic, which is an extension of criminal means, not evidence in his favor."
Ironically, it was this post-90s crypto fanatic who almost made the most successful investment in AI history. Unfortunately, he himself did not live to see that day.
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