CZ's Missed Opportunity: The Cost of a Trillion-Dollar AI Era
In 2014, CZ sold his Shanghai apartment to buy 1,500 BTC—a legendary investment that would have been worth nearly $190 million at its peak. But an even bigger opportunity came years later.
In November 2022, amid FTX’s liquidity crisis, Binance signed a non-binding letter of intent to acquire the failing exchange. The deal fell through within days, and FTX collapsed. Unknown to many at the time, FTX held a hidden gem: a 7.84% stake in AI startup Anthropic, acquired in a 2022 funding round.
That investment, made before the AI boom, is now worth an estimated $27.44 billion based on Anthropic’s rumored $350 billion valuation. Had the Binance-FTX acquisition proceeded, CZ might have gained control of this stake—potentially the most valuable asset in FTX’s portfolio.
Instead, FTX’s bankruptcy estate sold the Anthropic shares to traditional financial firms like Jane Street and Fidelity, netting over $1.3 billion. The article reflects on the missed chance for crypto leaders to influence AI’s top tier and laments what could have been a powerful convergence of crypto and AI.
比推02/09 18:03
