In the world of crypto, SBF always plays the role of a contradictory figure — he is both a philanthropic enthusiast who identifies as a proponent of "effective altruism" and a capital market player well-versed in market maneuvers; he claims to safeguard the future of humanity through technological investments, yet has dragged millions of investors into the abyss due to systemic risk spiraling out of control. Similarly, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is also an "effective altruist," emphasizing multiple times the need to "advance AGI development only in a manner that is safe and beneficial," attempting to overcome barriers to AI development through technological, policy, and social solutions. Two years after the collapse of the FTX empire, upon revisiting its investment landscape under the guise of "technology benefiting humanity," we discover that those once misunderstood forward-looking initiatives are gradually revealing astonishing foresight in technological evolution; and the billions of assets that were liquidated under duress have now doubled in value, becoming a regrettable loss.

The "OG" of Effective Altruism, Destined to Back an AI Unicorn

In public interviews, SBF has repeatedly emphasized that his philosophy of action is based on "effective altruism," instilled with an extreme form of altruism by his parents from a young age, aiming to bring happiness to more people. He advocates for maximizing wealth accumulation to support future social welfare, such as preventing epidemics and reducing global poverty, among other grand goals.

Since 2014, SBF has been a part of the effective altruism movement, always stressing "earning to give" as a life career. In April 2022, during an interview with The New York Times, he stated that he would strive to choose a high-income profession so that he could donate more to charity in the future.

SBF's focus on the disruptive field of technology aligns highly with the "long-termism" of effective altruism; he believes AI is at the core of future technological transformation, capable of achieving long-term societal value through efficiency enhancement or addressing significant issues (such as healthcare, climate, etc.). For example, he had planned to utilize funds to support technological research for preventing future pandemics, and AI's application in the biopharmaceutical field (such as protein folding research) is relevant to this.

In February 2022, SBF and several FTX colleagues jointly announced the establishment of the "Future Fund," aimed at funding "ambitious projects aimed at improving human long-term prospects." The fund is co-led by Professor Will MacAskill, one of the founders of the effective altruism movement, along with other key figures in the movement. The Future Fund had committed to providing a total of $160 million in funding to various projects by early September, including support for research projects related to pandemic preparedness and economic growth. Approximately $30 million was allocated to multiple organizations and individuals exploring AI-related topics.

SBF and his colleagues also funded several other projects dedicated to mitigating long-term risks of artificial intelligence, including providing $1.25 million in funding to the Alignment Research Center. The organization aims to ensure that future AI systems align with human interests, preventing technological "misalignment." They also provided $1.5 million to Cornell University for similar research purposes.

The Future Fund also provided nearly $6 million in funding to three projects related to large language models. Large language models are a type of increasingly powerful artificial intelligence that can write tweets, emails, blog posts, and even generate computer programs. This funding aims to reduce the risk of this technology being used to spread misinformation and mitigate the potential for unintended consequences and harmful behavior.

In addition to the Future Fund's funding, SBF and his colleagues have also directly invested in some startups, such as providing $500 million in funding to Anthropic. Founded in 2021, Anthropic was established by a group of effective altruists who left OpenAI and is dedicated to enhancing the safety of artificial intelligence by developing their language models, with the cost of developing these models potentially reaching tens of millions of dollars.

Between 2021 and 2022, SBF and his FTX colleagues allocated or invested over $530 million to more than 70 AI-related companies, academic labs, think tanks, independent projects, and individual researchers to address people's concerns about this technology.

SBF Could Have Engineered Another "Sui Miracle" Besides Solana

In 2021, during the massive unlock of SOL, SBF made a classic statement: "I will buy all the SOL you own right now for $3 each."

SBF's investment in Solana is based on its technological advantages. Solana is seen as a competitor to Ethereum with higher transaction speeds and lower fees. In a September 2021 interview, SBF stated that Solana is "one of the few blockchains with long-term potential" capable of supporting industrial-grade applications. FTX has a close relationship with Solana, SBF personally holds a significant amount of SOL, demonstrating his confidence in it.

Sui is a public chain founded by Evan Cheng, a former core member of Meta (Facebook) Libra, continuing Libra's high-performance design philosophy and focusing on high performance and scalability. FTX Ventures invested in Mysten Labs, the predecessor of Sui, in 2021, purchasing subscription rights and equity for 8.9 billion Sui tokens, totaling approximately $100 million (Sui Blockchain Explained: How It Works and What You Need to Know). SBF may have invested due to Sui's technical advantages (high throughput, low latency) and team background, similar to Solana.

Sui launched its mainnet in May 2023 and as of May 7, 2025, its market capitalization has exceeded 11.5 billion USD, ranking in the top 20 of the global cryptocurrency market cap list. Its technical features include high performance (processing tens of thousands of transactions per second), low fees, the use of the Move programming language to support dynamic assets and complex smart contracts, making it a representative of high-performance public chains. Its Total Value Locked (TVL) reached 1.78 billion USD in 2025, surpassing established public chains such as Avalanche. Due to the fact that the core members of its founding team are of Chinese descent, Sui has also attracted a large number of Chinese developers. The development efficiency of the ecosystem is significantly higher than that of Western teams, and Sui's ecosystem is rapidly developing in the DeFi and gaming sectors.

Sui is seen as a potential leader of the next generation of public chains, and its team background (comprised of core members from Meta Libra) gives it authority. Support from investment institutions such as a16z, FTX Ventures, and Coinbase Ventures has further elevated its industry status. Sui has a total token supply of 10 billion, with a circulating market cap of around 11.5 billion USD, demonstrating the market's confidence in its future.

Forced to Sell at Hundreds of Times the Price, Is it Envy of Talent or a Misjudgment of the Situation?

At the beginning of 2025, FTX creditor Sunil Kavuri posted on X, stating that SUI had reached a market capitalization of 16 billion USD at a price of 5.20 USD, which meant that the 8.9 billion SUI tokens that FTX sold for 96 million USD in March 2023 were now worth 4.6 billion USD. As of now, despite the SUI token price falling to 3.4 USD, it is still worth 3 billion USD.

Several months after FTX applied for bankruptcy, in 2023, they sold their shares back to Sui network developer Mysten Labs. FTX Ventures had previously acquired these shares, including the equity in Mysten Labs and the right to purchase SUI tokens in a 3 billion USD Series B round of financing for 101 million USD, back in 2022. This means that FTX Ventures sold these shares at a loss.

Sunil Kavuri's post made people reassess SBF's investment vision. Looking back, FTX's initial lead investments all had a vision that transcended the times, but due to the bankruptcy liquidation of FTX, they had to sell at a low price. Now, the amount of money made from selling off individual assets is in the billions.

In March 2024, FTX sold approximately two-thirds of its stake in the artificial intelligence startup Anthropic, representing 8% of the total equity. The sale amount reached $8.84 billion, with a subsidiary of the UAE sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, ATIC, set to purchase nearly $500 million of FTX's Anthropic holdings. The current valuation of this stake is around $30 billion.

In April 2024, FTX sold up to 30 million SOL at a significant discount price of $64 each, totaling approximately $19 billion, which accounted for two-thirds of its SOL holdings. This move attracted attention from industry giants like Galaxy Trading and Pantera Capital. Bloomberg reported that Galaxy Trading specifically established a $620 million fund to acquire FTX's discounted SOL. Based on the current price of SOL at $148, this asset is now valued at around $44 billion.

On May 6, 2025, according to the Financial Times, the company behind the AI code editor Cursor, Anysphere, completed a $9 billion funding round led by Thrive Capital, valuing the company at $90 billion. FTX was a seed investor in Cursor, but during bankruptcy liquidation, its liquidation team sold the held Cursor shares for $200,000, which are now worth around $500 million...

During FTX's liquidation, over $14 billion in assets were recovered, including cash, digital assets, and investments. However, details of the assets sold and their prices at the time were not disclosed. Looking back, the amount realized from the sales is likely in the hundreds of billions of dollars.

SBF's rollercoaster journey mirrors the fervor and fragility of the cryptocurrency industry. From betting on high-performance blockchains to venturing into the AI field, his decisions have always revolved around the grand narrative of "effective altruism." Yet, due to risk management failures and ethical ambiguities, he plummeted into the abyss. Following SBF's visionary investment outlook, the upcoming Sui round may shine as brightly as the previous Solana, showcasing the industry's eternal pursuit of technological innovation and wealth effects. The industry's iterative wheel continues to roll forward, with more emerging fields on the horizon. The everlasting challenge for investors is how to identify high-quality targets amid a myriad of emerging products.

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