After the collapse of FTX, a seemingly dull law enforcement action has now been amplified. Approximately 4,453,900 shares of Anthropic Series B Preferred Stock, previously included in FTX's asset pool, were confiscated by the U.S. government during the ongoing investigation, unexpectedly turning the government into a passive shareholder of an AI unicorn amidst the entanglement of on-chain and off-chain assets. By around October 2025, the regulators chose to no longer "hold on behalf of" by disposing of these shares at a price of approximately $140.9676 per share, for a total of approximately $627 million, injecting cash into the FTX bankruptcy asset pool for repaying creditors. The turning point in this story is time—when Anthropic submitted its S-1 filing to the SEC, planning to list under “ANT” on Nasdaq, the pre-IPO valuation suggested that the same approximately 4.45 million shares were now estimated to have a book value of about $3.94 billion. This is merely a valuation estimation and not a real transaction or realized profit. The gap between the numbers is starkly cruel: on one side is the already locked-in $627 million from the disposal, and on the other side is the hypothetical curve of "if only we hadn't sold" rising with the AI craze. For the FTX creditors waiting for repayment, the question is not just "how much can we recover," but when and at what price the government will exit this type of asset, whether it has reduced risk or, against the backdrop of soaring AI assets, amplified their opportunity cost of passive bear.

From FTX's Bet on Anthropic to the U.S. Government Taking Over

Before the collapse of FTX, the approximately 4,453,900 shares of Anthropic Series B Preferred Stock were just one "AI bet" in its asset portfolio. When the exchange collapsed, criminal and regulatory procedures rapidly unfolded, and this block of shares, originally belonging to FTX, was confiscated by the U.S. government, along with other assets incorporated into the enforcement and bankruptcy system. From that moment, the government was not playing the role of a savvy long-term investor betting on AI, but rather passively took over a high-risk, high-volatility equity chip within the framework of intertwined criminal cases and bankruptcy settlements.

The fate was truly determined by the subsequent disposal structure. Around October 2025, the U.S. government disposed of these approximately 4.45 million shares of Anthropic Series B Preferred Stock: completing a "repurchase" at a total price of approximately $627 million, equivalent to about $140.9676 per share, and then reselling the shares at exactly the same price to nine buyers or qualified investors. The entire structure resembles a straight line: the government neither raised the price nor reduced it but merely transferred the confiscated shares from FTX at a uniform price, exiting the shareholder list, and the approximately $627 million cashed out was directed into the FTX bankruptcy asset pool for future repayments to creditors. The identities of the nine buyers and their specific shareholding proportions were not disclosed, but in terms of the process, this transaction has completely sealed off the equity relay among FTX, the U.S. government, and the new buyers, and the creditors' recovery benchmark was also pinned at this disposal timing and price.

$627 Million vs. $3.94 Billion: The Price Gap Torn Open by Time Difference

Pulling back the perspective to the transaction itself: approximately 4,453,900 shares of Anthropic Series B Preferred Stock were uniformly disposed at around $140.9676 per share, totaling about $627 million. In other words, the U.S. government effectively "locked in" a liquidation price for FTX creditors around October 2025—regardless of how the AI narrative heated up thereafter, this block of shares has legally and accountably been fixed at around $141 per share, rather than continuing to follow market fluctuations.

The glaring contrast appeared afterward. Anthropic submitted its S-1 to the SEC, preparing to list "ANT" on Nasdaq, and the market began to reverse-engineer the “current value” of these approximately 4.45 million shares based on this pre-listing valuation, arriving at a rough number of about $3.94 billion. This figure is nearly several times the initial disposal price, appearing as a rupture torn open by time difference, but it must be emphasized that it is merely a static estimate based on pre-IPO valuation and not the actual transaction price, nor is it automatically convertible into a specific recovery ratio; in the absence of key parameters like total liabilities, types of creditors’ priority, liquidation costs, etc., any numerical extrapolation about "how much each creditor will receive less" or "how much more could have been divided" is more of an emotional comparison rather than an auditable conclusion. For FTX creditors, what they can truly confirm is only one point: in this asset disposal led by the bankruptcy process and enforcement framework, $627 million has been locked in and entered into the asset pool, while the opportunity cost forever remains on an imagined bill that cannot and should not be written into the liquidation report.

AI Frenzy and Crypto Legacy: Can Future Liquidations Still Bet on Tomorrow?

Looking back at the fate of this batch of around 4.45 million shares of Anthropic Series B Preferred Stock, all debates revolve around a simple question: in the high-growth race of AI, should bankruptcy assets be considered as chips that need to be immediately monetized or can they be seen as long-term holdings for the victims? The U.S. government disposed of these shares around October 2025 for approximately $627 million, equivalently around $140.9676 per share, which was a compliant and explicable choice at that time. However, as Anthropic filed its S-1 and the pre-IPO valuation significantly increased, these shares were pointed toward a market-estimated current value range of about $3.94 billion, putting the tension between reality and potential opportunity cost under the spotlight. For future cases of crypto bankruptcy, this tension will only grow—asset pools may simultaneously contain high-volatility tokens, unlisted equity, and technology equity like Anthropic, where any judgment at the time of disposal will amplify the contrast between "timely monetization" and "betting on the future." The lessons for regulators, bankruptcy administrators, and investors thus become concrete: on one hand, there must be a priority to realize the victims’ definite interests within legal constraints, avoiding turning them into passive LPs of high-risk venture capital funds; on the other hand, transparency and choice must be provided in information disclosure, valuation assumptions, and disposal path design, allowing those who could endure long-term fluctuations to share as much as possible in the upside of AI and new technology tracks, rather than just arguing later over a locked-in $627 million and a bunch of estimated figures that will never find their way into the liquidation report, about who sold too early.

Join our community to discuss and grow stronger together!
AiCoin exclusive Hyperliquid benefits: https://app.hyperliquid.xyz/join/AICOIN88
AiCoin exclusive Aster benefits: https://www.asterdex.com/zh-CN/referral/9C50e2
On-chain Telegram community: https://t.me/AiCoinWhaleData
On-chain community: https://www.aicoin.com/link/chat?cid=N6OVMor5g
AiCoin on-chain Twitter: https://x.com/aicoinwhaledata

免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。