OKX to Launch Perpetual Futures Tracking OpenAI, SpaceX, Anthropic Valuations

Crypto exchange OKX announced plans to launch perpetual futures contracts that track the valuations of OpenAI, SpaceX, and Anthropic. The firm made the announcement on Wednesday, positioning the derivatives as a way for traders to gain synthetic exposure to private company valuations in the tech sector.

The contracts will follow reference prices derived from secondary market activity. They settle without the delivery of actual shares and provide no equity ownership or associated shareholder rights, including voting privileges or dividend payments. No specific launch timeline has been provided by OKX.

This development places OKX alongside other crypto platforms that have introduced similar pre-IPO trading options. Bitget launched its IPO Prime platform in April to offer such exposure, while Injective introduced pre-IPO perpetual futures last year.

The targeted companies represent major players in artificial intelligence and space technology. OpenAI, known for developing ChatGPT, and Anthropic, the creator of Claude, stand as leading privately held AI firms. SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk for space exploration, is preparing for a potential IPO and has recently merged with Musk's AI venture xAI.

Previous attempts to offer retail exposure to these private valuations have encountered resistance from the companies involved. Robinhood's earlier effort with OpenAI-linked tokens, supported by a special purpose vehicle holding secondary shares, prompted OpenAI to clarify that it had no affiliation with the product. More recently, Robinhood Ventures committed $75 million to the AI startup, enabling retail investors to gain indirect exposure through shares in the fund. AngelList has also introduced its USVC fund, which provides access to OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI investments beginning at $500.

In addition to the pre-IPO perpetual futures, OKX revealed plans for tokenized stock trading facilitated by a partnership with Ondo Finance. The exchange will also introduce new equity perpetual futures for trading.