In 2026, while cryptocurrency traders are moving to speculate on traditional assets like gold and oil, a new trend has emerged in the crypto market – perpetual futures (perps) on shares of companies that have not yet gone public. Platforms such as TradeXYZ (based on Hyperliquid), Ventuals (based on Ethereum), and PreStocks (based on Solana) have become platforms that have attracted the attention of speculators, RBC writes.
These exchanges typically operate without identity verification (KYC), offering traders access to assets that are nearly impossible for most regular traders to buy. Aggregate trading in shares of yet-to-be-listed companies on these platforms has already exceeded $1 billion. On these exchanges, investors do not get access to shares after they go public, but they allow speculating on price expectations before the asset is listed.
The case of AI chip maker Cerebras in mid-May was an illustrative example confirming interest in such platforms. The company held its IPO at a price of $185 per share, and after the start of trading on NASDAQ, the paper rose to $350. At the same time, as The Block noted, an hour before the opening of trading on NASDAQ on the decentralized platform TradeXYZ futures on Cerebras were trading at about $340.
Profit 90%
Retail traders who bought Cerebras stock futures on May 1 through the TradeXYZ marketplace “were up about 90% by the time trading opened on NASDAQ” on May 14, noted Castle Labs co-founder Castle Labs, known by the nickname Atomist.
However, experts urge not to confuse the new tool with real investments. As Arca Chief Investment Officer Jeff Dorman explained in a comment to The Block, “right now these markets are more like betting on sentiment rather than fundamental valuation.”
From the perspective of the big players, current volumes are still extremely low. Keyrock analyst Amir Hajian notes that open interest in such instruments is still too small to hedge fund positions worth hundreds of millions of dollars. However, the interest in such platforms is supported by the data. The Cerebras market alone generated nominal trading volume of about $207 million in two weeks, and Hajian expects that by the end of the year there will be markets that predict the opening price of public trading with 1-2% accuracy.
There is particular interest in Musk’s company
A lot of attention is now focused on Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which is expected to go public as early as June 12. The company plans to raise up to $75 billion at a valuation of more than $2 trillion, which could be the largest IPO in history. Almost immediately after the news broke, TradeXYZ launched a futures trade on SPCX stock paired to the USDC stablecoin. In less than two days, trading volume has already totaled nearly $50 million with open interest of $25 million.
TradeXYZ emerged after Hyperliquid developers activated the HIP-3 update in the fall of 2025. It allows the launch of open-ended futures on any asset using Hyperliquid’s infrastructure and liquidity. To open a new market, developers need to send 500 thousand HYPE tokens (more than $22 million at the current exchange rate) to the staking. Trading through the marketplace is also possible through Hyperliquid’s main interface in the TradFi or HIP-3 sections.
The appearance of such assets is interesting not so much in itself, but in the scale of trading through Hyperliquid. On May 18, the open interest, i.e. the total volume of open trades, in futures on real assets (all those launched thanks to HIP-3) exceeded $2.6 billion, of which $710 million is accounted for by futures on oil, gold and silver. Trading is 24/7, unlike traditional stock market exchanges.
A few more “unicorns” are in the pipeline
According to analysts, interest in these instruments will only grow. OpenAI, Anthropic and Discord are in line for public listings.
“There are more than 1,700 unicorns in the world with a total value of more than $8 trillion to which the average investor has no access,” comments Thomas Klokanas, managing partner of Strobe Ventures.
He added that global trading volume in the secondary markets reached $240 billion in 2025, up nearly 50% year-over-year, but the market remains illiquid. Klokanas believes that futures contracts on the price of an asset before it goes public are “a direct response to this structural gap.”
Risks
Despite the hype, experts warn of risks. While the platforms described above turn OTC private equity into an exchange-traded product available to any cryptocurrency wallet holder, these are still synthetic derivatives. And the trader is not buying a real stake in the company, as in a classic secondary market.
In addition, regulatory risks remain high due to the fact that many platforms are not registered in any way in many jurisdictions where they are accessible. Platforms also operate without identity verification procedures. In addition, the issuing companies themselves (such as OpenAI and Anthropic) have already warned that they do not endorse the issuance of such products and do not guarantee that they are backed by real assets.
“If a synthetic contract for a major AI company drops 40% in a week because of leverage liquidations, that headline will be in the news, even if the company had nothing to do with the contract,” said Omar Shakib, head of SecondLane.
For example, futures prices for Anthropic and OpenAI shares on the PreStocks platform collapsed nearly 40% last week after the companies warned that both had nothing to do with them.
