OKX is giving European traders access to perpetual contracts (X-Perps) tied to the theoretical valuations of Anthropic and OpenAI, letting them speculate on these AI unicorns before any IPO with leverage of up to 10x.
🔑 Key takeaways
- OKX launches its Pre-IPO X-Perps for Anthropic and OpenAI via its Maltese subsidiary OKX Europe Markets Ltd.
- Leverage up to 10x, no expiry date, no ownership or voting rights
- Reference valuations: $965B for Anthropic, $852B for OpenAI
- Claimed compliance with MiCA and MiFID II, licensed by the Malta Financial Services Authority
- X-Perps trading volume in Europe has quadrupled since the end of the MiCA transition period in July 2024
How do OKX’s Pre-IPO X-Perps work?
Launched on September 10, 2024, OKX’s « Pre-IPO » lineup offers perpetual contracts (X-Perps) priced off the theoretical valuations of OpenAI and Anthropic, not real shares. Traders can open long or short positions with leverage of up to 10x, no expiry date, and close out at any time. The instruments trade 24/7.
As the platform explicitly states, « these instruments confer no ownership rights, no voting rights and no economic claim on the underlying company. » It is therefore a pure derivative product: the trader speculates on the evolution of OKX’s reference price without holding any equity in either startup. This structure clearly differentiates X-Perps from a traditional share purchase and exposes users to the risk of divergence between the contract price and the actual private valuation.
Reference valuations: staggering numbers
To set the underlying for its contracts, OKX relies on the latest publicly disclosed private funding rounds. According to data relayed by TechFlow, Anthropic previously raised $65 billion at a valuation of $965 billion, while OpenAI closed a $122 billion round in March 2024, valuing the company at roughly $852 billion. TrendingTopics confirms the $965B valuation for Anthropic’s Series H, though the amount raised differs between sources.
| Company | Latest funding round | Reference valuation | Amount raised |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anthropic | Series H | $965B | $65B |
| OpenAI | March 2024 round | $852B | $122B |
These valuations serve as anchors for the mark price of the contracts but have never been validated by an open regulated market. Any fluctuation rests on confidence in private-equity estimates and on future funding operations.
A European regulatory framework OKX is leaning on
Pre-IPO X-Perps are distributed through OKX Europe Markets Ltd., an entity authorised by the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) under the Maltese Investment Services Act. OKX claims full compliance with the European MiCA regulation (Markets in Crypto-Assets) as well as the MiFID II directive applicable to traditional financial instruments.
This dual framework aims to reassure European traders by offering them a status close to that of a regulated broker, despite the product’s crypto-native nature. Malta’s choice, a jurisdiction historically friendly to digital assets, allows OKX to cover the entire European Union from a single services passport.
A booming pre-IPO market across crypto exchanges
OKX’s move is not isolated. Binance and Hyperliquid (via its HIP-3 product) already offer pre-IPO perpetual contracts on OpenAI and Anthropic. Kraken and Coinbase have also launched pre-IPO perps for eligible clients outside the United States, with Kraken explicitly excluding the European Union.
| Platform | OpenAI/Anthropic pre-IPO perps | EU access |
|---|---|---|
| OKX | Yes (X-Perps) | Yes (via MFSA) |
| Binance | Yes | Partial |
| Hyperliquid | Yes (HIP-3) | Yes |
| Coinbase | Yes | Outside the US |
| Kraken | Yes | No (EU excluded) |
In parallel, OKX has tokenised roughly 100 assets representing stocks and ETFs, including SpaceX, Alphabet (Google), Nvidia, Palantir, as well as the SPY and QQQ ETFs. These tokens mirror the price of the underlying security, can be posted as collateral for X-Perps, plugged into trading bots (DCA, Grid) and withdrawn to a self-custody wallet.
« X-Perps volume in Europe has quadrupled since the end of the MiCA transition period in July 2024. »
Erald Ghoos, CEO of OKX Europe
Risks, precedents and regulatory caution
The history of tokens backed by private companies is not without bumps. In summer 2024, Robinhood launched OpenAI and SpaceX tokens in Europe, prompting an immediate reaction from the creator of ChatGPT: OpenAI issued a statement reminding markets that « these OpenAI tokens are not equity in OpenAI » and that any transfer of its shares requires the company’s explicit approval. CEO Vlad Tenev later conceded that the instruments were « technically not equity. » The Bank of Lithuania, Robinhood’s EU supervisor, opened an examination.
« A 10x leverage on a valuation no regulated market has validated seems unlikely to close the debate. »
TrendingTopics analysis
OKX multiplies the warnings: no equity participation, no voting rights, no claim on profits. The contract price can diverge sharply from the private valuation or from the eventual IPO price, and 10x leverage amplifies gains as much as losses. In case of a delayed or cancelled IPO, the reference underlying can quickly become obsolete.
Conclusion: a regulatory bet on AI hunger
By launching its Pre-IPO X-Perps, OKX is capitalising on two underlying trends: massive investor appetite for artificial intelligence and crypto exchanges’ eagerness to capture market share beyond pure crypto trading. The proliferation of competing offerings signals that demand is very real, particularly in Europe where traditional brokers remain wary of these unicorn valuations.
Ultimately, the soundness of these products will depend on the quality of OKX’s price feed and the resilience of the MiCA framework as derivatives on unlisted assets flood in. Anthropic’s and OpenAI’s next funding rounds, or their actual IPOs, will serve as the first real-world stress test.
Sources
This article is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice. Do your own research (DYOR) before making any decision.
