Bybit lists pre-IPO perpetuals on OpenAI and Anthropic at up to 20x
DeFi & Yields ·
Bybit has opened trading on OPENAIUSDT and ANTHROPICUSDT perpetual contracts, letting users take leveraged exposure to the two AI companies before either has filed for a public listing.
According to Bybit's listing announcement, the new pairs carry leverage of up to 20x. Neither OpenAI nor Anthropic has submitted an S-1 filing, meaning the contracts track private-market valuations rather than shares tied to any confirmed public offering timeline.
The move extends Bybit's existing push into tokenized and pre-IPO exposure products, an area the exchange has been building out alongside other real-world-asset offerings, including prior work on tokenized equities and SpaceX-linked pre-IPO instruments. Bybit has also been named in reports of broader industry collaboration on tokenizing US stocks, though that separate initiative involving Coinbase was described as focused on custody and distribution rather than any equity stake or market-entry deal.
The launch arrives as Bybit continues to position itself as a derivatives-heavy venue expanding beyond its original niche, a strategy that has included yield products and RWA offerings alongside its core perpetual futures business. The exchange has faced scrutiny on other fronts in parallel, including a shift to limit certain services for EEA users under MiCAR and past security incidents that its leadership has described as an ongoing challenge for the industry.
What remains unclear is how Bybit sources the pricing data underlying these perpetual contracts given the absence of any public equity reference price, and how the exchange would handle settlement or contract adjustments if OpenAI or Anthropic eventually files for an IPO or undergoes a material valuation event in the private markets. Also unresolved is whether other exchanges will follow with similar pre-IPO perpetual listings on the same companies, and how regulators in jurisdictions where Bybit operates might respond to leveraged trading products tied to unlisted private firms.