In 2026, there is a steady trend in the crypto market: traders, hedge funds and other participants who previously specialized exclusively in crypto-assets are massively switching to trading traditional instruments. Since the beginning of the year, there has been an increase in the interest of crypto traders in such assets as gold, silver, oil and stock indices. However, now there is also a sector of companies whose shares have not yet gone public, namely the shares of organizations engaged in the development of solutions based on artificial intelligence (AI) – Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX, RBC writes.
Shares of many U.S. AI companies, including Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX, are not yet traded on exchanges, but only on secondary markets. Consequently, this makes it difficult for retail traders to access trading.
Crypto platforms attract traders
The platforms that have attracted traders in the wave of interest in AI companies have been crypto platforms Ventuals and PreStocks, as Bloomberg writes, citing aggregate trading volumes. Since their launch in November and September 2025, respectively, the figure has totaled more than $1.1 billion, the publication writes, citing data from Artemis Analytics. And taking data from these marketplaces as a base, the valuation of Anthropic, for example, has reached $1.6 billion, double the valuation in the last funding round, Bloomberg notes.
These exchanges operate as classic decentralized platforms without the need to undergo identity verification (KYC), without weekends and holidays. Ventuals operates on the Ethereum network, PreStocks – on the Solana blockchain.
If an asset is already traded on exchanges, the mechanics of its appearance on crypto platforms include the issuance of tokens linked to the price of the asset (and, according to claims, the purchase of real assets to secure them) or the launch of futures. In the case of private companies, the situation is different. For those who have not yet conducted an IPO (initial public offering), Ventuals and PreStocks platforms also use different mechanics.
The former, backed by venture capital firm Paradigm, uses open-ended futures – derivatives with no link to actual stock transactions. While PreStocks creates tokens only against security in specialized Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) companies.
An SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) is a special purpose company created for a specific project or purpose. Investing in an SPV gives you the right to own a stake in that project, making it safer for investors to invest in assets, even those that are not yet traded on exchanges.
And while Anthropic has already warned that such structures may not be legally enforceable, these markets have already created volumes in the hundreds of millions. Bloomberg experts reminded that SPVs are not unique and already occupy a significant share of the secondary market for traditional assets.
However, similar products have been criticized by tech giants before. OpenAI made similar Anthropic statements at the time of launching similar tokenized products from broker Robinhood. In mid-2025, OpenAI said it had not participated in the launch of those products, did not approve the transfer of shares, and does not support the project.
One interviewee also told Bloomberg that he specifically checks Ventuals to understand the real value of its Anthropic shares, adding that periodic price reconciliations of the platform with the secondary market have matched.
Moving away from cryptocurrencies
AI companies are not central to the trend of moving to the side of traditional assets. Experts cited the fact that old crypto strategies are no longer super profitable as the main reason.
In April, a number of companies that previously worked exclusively with crypto assets began to talk about changing their trading strategies. For example, some crypto companies have already allocated funds for trading traditional assets, while others are forming separate specialized funds in this sector.
The view of a shift in sentiment is supported by a wider sample. A survey by Crypto Insights Group (51 funds with more than $3 billion in assets) showed that almost half expect about 50% of their capital to go to non-cryptocurrency transactions.
