Elon Musk supported and then dismissed a $10 billion ICO for OpenAI

Source: CritpoTendencia Original Title: Elon Musk supported and then dismissed a $10 billion ICO for OpenAI Original Link: In light of recently disclosed internal documents, it has emerged that Elon Musk, one of the founders of OpenAI, initially backed an ambitious plan to raise $10,000 million through an initial coin offering in 2018.

In this context, the organization itself acknowledges that the debate over its structure was a central element during its early years. In an official statement, OpenAI states: “the truth is that Elon and we agreed in 2017 that a for-profit structure would be the next phase for OpenAI; negotiations ended when we refused to give him full control.”

However, Musk’s subsequent withdrawal from this initiative would mark a turning point that would decisively influence the direction and structure that currently define the organization.

The rise of ICOs and Musk’s initial bet

In early 2018, during the height of ICOs as a funding method within the tech sector, Musk and the founding team of OpenAI seriously discussed the possibility of launching a for-profit branch supported by the issuance of a token.

The goal was to fund the nonprofit organization’s mission at a time when appetite for high-risk investments with limited regulation was reaching high levels.

Internal call transcripts reveal that Musk agreed for OpenAI to explore this route, anticipating a raise close to $10,000 million.

In this framework, the strategy aimed to capitalize on the enthusiasm of the crypto market and direct access to global investors, without relying solely on traditional venture capital.

The turning point: Musk’s decision and its impact on OpenAI

However, just weeks after these discussions, the founders of OpenAI were informed that Musk would no longer support the ICO strategy.

According to the documents disclosed in the context of the legal dispute between Musk and OpenAI, the entrepreneur concluded that the organization would not be able to raise the necessary funds under that scheme and decided to focus its efforts on artificial intelligence development within Tesla.

As a result, Musk’s exit at the end of 2018 left OpenAI needing to redefine its financial structure without compromising its founding mission.

In response, the organization adopted a hybrid model combining a public benefit corporation with a nonprofit entity as the parent, a scheme that remains in place to this day.

The legacy of a discarded idea

From a broader perspective, the case of OpenAI and Elon Musk reflects the period of intense financial experimentation that the tech industry underwent during the ICO boom between 2017 and 2018.

Although the initiative to fund an artificial intelligence mission through a token never materialized, the discussion demonstrates how much crypto models influenced even projects led by central figures in the tech sector.

In this sense, recent legal documents not only allow for a more accurate reconstruction of OpenAI’s early history but also open space for reflection on how decentralized funding trends have directly or indirectly shaped the strategic evolution of major tech companies.