Key Highlights
- Coinbase has launched pre-IPO perpetual futures tied to OpenAI and Anthropic.
- The contracts allow traders to speculate on company valuations before public listings.
- Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said retail investors have historically lacked access to private tech giants.
Crypto exchange Coinbase has launched pre-IPO perpetual futures contracts for OpenAI and Anthropic, giving eligible international traders a new way to gain exposure to two of the most closely watched artificial intelligence companies before they go public.
The announcement was made by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong today, who said ordinary investors have traditionally been locked out of opportunities to participate in the growth of highly valued private companies.
“Two of the biggest, most hyped private companies are due to go public soon — OpenAI and Anthropic,” Armstrong wrote on X. “But because they’re private, regular people can’t get exposure. We launched pre-IPO perps for both these companies on Coinbase.”
Bringing private market exposure to retail traders
The new contracts are available through Coinbase International Exchange and allow eligible non-U.S. users to trade perpetual futures linked to the overall equity valuation of OpenAI and Anthropic.
Unlike traditional stock investments, the contracts do not provide ownership rights, voting power, or any claim to company shares. Instead, traders gain synthetic exposure to market expectations of each company’s valuation before it becomes publicly listed.
Coinbase said the product is designed to address one of the biggest challenges in pre-IPO investing: the lack of reliable share-count data.
According to Coinbase, this approach avoids assumptions around share dilution, restructuring, and changing capitalization tables that often occur before an IPO.
How pre-IPO perpetual futures work
The contracts are settled entirely in USDC and trade around the clock using Coinbase’s existing perpetual futures infrastructure. Before an IPO, the contracts operate using a valuation-based index. Once the company publicly files final IPO details and discloses its share count, Coinbase can convert the product into a traditional stock perpetual future that tracks the company’s share price.
The transition occurs through what Coinbase describes as a “P&L-neutral rebase,” where positions and pricing are adjusted without changing the economic value of a trader’s holdings.
After the company begins public trading, the contract becomes a standard equity perpetual future and continues operating under Coinbase’s stock perpetual framework.
High growth potential comes with significant risks
Coinbase emphasized that pre-IPO markets carry unique risks compared with both crypto assets and publicly traded equities. Because private-company valuations are often based on secondary market transactions, funding rounds, and internal estimates, prices can shift rapidly when new information emerges.
The exchange also warned of substantial volatility around IPO events, noting that valuation gaps between private markets, IPO pricing, and public trading can trigger sharp market moves.
A move of 25% or more on IPO day is considered plausible, particularly for highly anticipated listings such as OpenAI and Anthropic.
To manage risk, Coinbase has capped leverage at 5x for pre-IPO contracts and implemented position limits that are more restrictive than those used for many crypto perpetual futures markets.
Coinbase expands beyond crypto assets
The launch reflects Coinbase’s broader effort to expand beyond traditional cryptocurrency trading and provide access to a wider range of financial products. The company has increasingly focused on tokenized assets, derivatives, prediction markets, and other products that bridge traditional finance and digital asset infrastructure.
By introducing pre-IPO perpetual futures, Coinbase is effectively creating a market where traders can speculate on the future value of private companies long before they reach public exchanges.
The move also highlights growing demand for alternative investment products that offer exposure to high-growth technology companies that often remain private for years before pursuing public listings.
Also read: Coinbase’s ‘Everything Exchange’ Push: Ambition, Risk, and Future of Finance
