OKX Brings Pre-IPO Bets on OpenAI and Anthropic to Europe
Trending Topics Jakob Steinschaden
OKX is letting Europeans bet on OpenAI and Anthropic before any IPO. It’s wrapped as regulated derivatives, but the price can wander far from reality.
Based on reporting by Trending Topics, Jakob Steinschaden — read the original for the full story.
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OKX has opened two new product lines to European customers: pre-IPO markets on companies that have not listed, and tokenized stocks. The first launch starts with OpenAI and Anthropic, the two AI names drawing the loudest attention right now. OKX says the contracts are X-Perps, perpetual futures with no expiry date, and that traders can go long or short with leverage of up to 10x.
The exchange says positions can be opened and closed at any time, and more pre-IPO markets are planned. These products come through OKX Europe Markets Ltd., which is licensed by the Malta Financial Services Authority under Malta’s Investment Services Act. That regulatory wrapper is the whole point here. The underlying idea is not new, but OKX is trying to sell it in a form that fits Europe’s rulebook.
At the same time, OKX is rolling out tokenized stocks across roughly 100 markets. The list includes SpaceX, Google, Nvidia and Palantir, along with the SPY and QQQ ETFs. These trade 24/7, can be used as collateral for X-Perps, can feed DCA and grid bots, and can be withdrawn on-chain to a self-custody wallet. OKX says the tokens track the price of the underlying security, while ownership and voting rights stay with the actual shareholders.
Erald Ghoos, CEO of OKX Europe, says pre-IPO markets have been unavailable to most European traders on traditional brokerage and other regulated platforms. He also says X-Perps volume in Europe has quadrupled since the MiCA transition period ended in July, and that this audience is the target. But the hard truth is in the risk disclosure: these contracts give no ownership and no economic claim in the company, and the price can differ sharply from private valuations or any eventual IPO price. A listing may be delayed, cancelled, or never happen at all.
My take — AI-written commentary, not fact-checked reporting
This is the same old financial magic trick with a fresh compliance haircut. Call it MiCA-friendly if you like; it still lets people trade on names they don’t own and valuations nobody has actually tested in public markets. Europe keeps getting sold synthetic exposure as progress, and the bill usually arrives after the excitement fades.
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