A recent revealing shares that Sam Bankman‑Fried’s FTX secured rights to 888 million $SUI tokens for just $1 million, alongside a larger $101 million investment. Today, that side holding would be worth at least $3.55 billion at the current price of around $4 per token.
The deal would have FTX gain access to a larger fund of around 1.6 billion SUI tokens through its main investment, giving the venture a potential value of $6.46 billion at today’s prices.
The finding was disclosed in a court document, confirming the initial cost and token allocation. It was recently posted on X by‑chain tracker, SimonOnChain.
However, alongside various crypto holdings, FTX estate sold all SUI tokens and equity back to SUI’s creators. In March 2023, FTX sold around 890 million SUI token warrants along with its equity stake in Mysten Labs back to the company for merely $96 million.
At current rates, the initial side deal alone would now be worth nearly £2.8 billion, while the full 1.6 billion‑token stash would approximate £5 billion.
The massive windfall missed by FTX highlights two points. First, it shows just how early the buying occurred, when SUI tokens were yet to list publicly. Second, it shows how fast the token grew in just a few years.
How they sold it makes people wonder why they sold it so cheap, even though it became very valuable. Experts think they were in a rush to get money to pay people back, so they didn’t wait for the price to go higher.
Market watchers say this is a cautionary tale. Rights and warrants can hold vast, unrealised value. Early strategic deals like these helped build SUI’s ecosystem, but losing them for a small fraction of eventual value shows how timing matters in startup exits and token economics.
For the Sui network, it means the founders bought back the tokens for a very low price compared to what they were later worth. This likely gave them more money to keep building and running the project.
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